


Desert Butterfly

by Arianwen44, BlackSheep240



Category: Original Work
Genre: Arena fights, Definite NSFW/18+, Forced Sex, Lots of plot, M/M, Master/Slave, Naga, Post-Apocalypse, Rape/Non-con Elements, Ruka's a bit of a jerk, Sexual Slavery, Slow Burn, So is Evaden..., Violent Fights, each chapter has additional warnings, lets just love these two jerks, my first original work online!, very slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2018-06-03 22:25:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 19
Words: 85,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6629128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arianwen44/pseuds/Arianwen44, https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackSheep240/pseuds/BlackSheep240
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world is an immense desert, the surviving human settlements barely thriving on the edges of the empty wastelands. Ruka, a traveling assassin, ignores the rumours and warnings of the dangers in and beyond the wastes in order to go after a mark, and is captured.</p><p>An assassin turned slave, Ruka is trapped in a world he didn't even think existed. He is surrounded by women with spidery legs, creatures calling themselves men but who look more like beasts, and cold, cruel serpent people that hold his life in their hands. Ruka must learn, must adapt to survive or risk a gruesome death at the hands of his new master.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Desert

**Author's Note:**

> Additional Warnings: N/A
> 
> This story has sensitive content, which has been well researched and thought out. Reader discretion is advised due to the content!! Thanks!

 

The heat was dry on his back as Ruka weaved and ducked through the crowded marketplace, the white hood of his short cloak covering most of his head from the blinding sun. Beneath his sandals slid the dusty, hard-packed sand and stones that were so common in this region. Because of the stilled air and dry heat, it allowed a light haze to settle over the marketplace from the thin layer of dust that was kicked up from all of the mingling merchants and customers. Ruka ducked beneath an awning on the edge of the chaos of shouting and bargaining, the clouds of flies that danced around horses and donkeys and mules as they lazily swished their tails to combat the annoying pests. He saw baubles and shining trinkets in some stalls, some filled with bright and sweet exotic fruits; others with bolts and yards of fine cloths and silks, and some with spices that made the nose curl as he passed.

Yet none of these stalls or merchants interested him today. Ruka loosened the collar around his neck, allowing for some of his sandy blond hair to slip in front of his eyes. He had only stopped in the market town briefly, he had business here and he had come to collect. Taking a hard right between two silk merchants busy trying to entice a gaggle of buyers to their stalls, he moved down a narrow alley lined with limestone houses and into a small courtyard with a dirty fountain spewing into a grate. There was a door in the shadowy corner with a wooden sign bracketed by iron over the top, and he made for it. 

When he entered, Ruka was met with the strong smell of sweat, alcohol and the pungent scent of fire and pipe smoke. The air was hazy and a thin cloud of smoke hovered at the ceiling, some of it escaping and fluttering when he let the door slam shut behind him. The front of the dark space was a low staircase that led down and to the left, opening up into a seedy-looking tavern that looked more like a jail cell than an alehouse. Ruka followed the stairs down and saw that there were a few other patrons, either sitting at the bar and talking in hushed tones, or at corner tables skulking over cards or fondling serving boys and girls. Ruka’s eyes skimmed over the people, ignoring the silence that followed his entrance, and sat down at the bar.

He didn’t know the name of the barman, but he tapped three times on the rough, scarred surface of the bar and the man seemed to pale, the grubby cloth he was cleaning with coming to a sudden stop at the sound. Ruka’s hard gaze glanced up through the hood and the strands of his hair, and the man swallowed and nodded. He reached beneath the bar and produced a slip of parchment, sliding it across to Ruka who caught it under one finger and brought it the rest of the way so it was sitting in front of him. He lifted the thick parchment up so that he could see it better in the dim light and read the messy penmanship. There was a roughly scratched image of a man on the paper, squat and fat, with a deep scar running across his right eye and a rather greasy-looking mop of hair. The beady little black eyes grimaced back at Ruka from the paper, but the image didn’t get so much as a batted eyelash from him.

“When was the last time you saw him?” he spoke slowly, his voice sounded young, like the clear tone of a young man just reaching the cusp of adulthood. He glanced up from the paper, hazel eyes demanding a quick answer from the barman.

The man nearly flinched, “Two days ago, crazy idiot thought he could make it in the desert and left in the middle of the night. Didn’t pay for his room, the bastard,”

“I don’t care about your financial losses,” said Ruka plainly, “I only care about my next target. What can you tell me about the desert?” he leaned on the table, but somehow he never appeared to look relaxed.

“People say strange things about the desert, I’ve only been living here for three years and I haven’t seen a thing to put any stock in rumors and wives tales,” he saw the impatient look that Ruka gave him, informing the barkeep that he wasn’t in the mood for idle stories, “Many people who go into the desert never come back, they say it’s haunted. Cursed and inhabited by beast-creatures, I’ve even heard of women with… the appearance of a _spider_ , and men with the bodies of snakes. _Snakes!_ Who would believe shit like that?” the man laughed nervously, but Ruka made no move to show any returned amusement. 

Ruka looked over the parchment again; he remembered hearing of things in the desert, things he hadn’t put much stock into before. Especially the universal law that those that entered the desert never came back, not fully. The world had gone to the dogs centuries ago, now it was a desolate desert where massive storms were constant, sometimes even sweeping away whole towns and erasing them from the maps entirely. Now humans clung to the few settlements they had left, paths carved into the stone between each town were the only safe roads that bypassed the wasteland deserts. People didn’t even know what was past the desert anymore, so Ruka was sure that these rumors of spider women and snake men were just the ravings of superstitious people living on the edge of an empty desert. The only information in all of the rumors and nonsense that was useful was that he knew that barely anyone left the safety of the walled cities and towns, those who did were few and far between. If his mark had left the town, he wouldn’t have to be hunting through a million lost souls, he could find a trail and grab his guy within a day or so.   

Now that he knew his mark, and knew he had left town, he could easily track the man down. He nodded to the barkeep and stood, his information in hand he left two gold coins on the table that the man quickly snatched up. “I need supplies, and a good lead on where he left the city from,” he narrowed his eyes meaningfully at the man while nimbly slipping a third gold coin through his fingers. The gold metal caught the dim light in the room and flashed dully, but it did not lessen the glint of greed in the barkeep’s eyes any more. 

“There’s a man down the street, just between the tailor and the leather tanner. Runs a small supply shop for travelers, business isn’t so good for idiots— people going into the desert so it’s hard to find. Say I sent you and he’ll give you a good discount,” he rubbed his hands together and glanced between Ruka and the gold piece.

Ruka sighed and flicked the gold towards the man with a clear metal chime as it spun through the air and landed in the barkeep’s hand as he left the smoky tavern. He had to smirk a little; money was the best truth serum, that or a good knife to the throat and a cold threat.

  

* * *

 

Ruka left the small supply shop, his hood up as the clouds rolled in from the north, giving the desert town a rare afternoon of altogether shade. Though the shade was only that, the air remained rainless and showed no signs of that changing. Ruka stayed in a shady alcove, clipping his knife belt to his hip and assuring his poisoned needles were safely strapped to both shoulders with a secure belt. Ruka also kept a very small throwing knife hidden in the stiff tie that he kept his hair tied back with. Once he was sure that everything was in place, he readjusted his hood and stepped out onto the market street. He was near the edge of the desert wall and he moved swiftly past the gates and the sleepy-looking guards standing at the entrance looking bored.

“Hey, kid where are you going? Don’t go into the desert, you won’t come back again,” one of the guards seemed to have woken up and placed a hand onto Ruka’s shoulder.

Ruka tensed and had to control the reflexes that instantly made him want to react by grabbing the man and flinging him against the wall with every ounce of his strength. Instead he grabbed the wrist and twisted until he was behind the man with a small knife at the man’s throat, his movements were smooth and fluid like a dancer, and he made barely any sounds. The man yelped and that alerted the second guard, who straightened and put a hand on his sword at his hip.

“Touch me again and I’ll be the reason _you_ won’t be coming back,” he breathed chillingly to the man, shaking his head in warning to the other guard, who was making to apprehend Ruka and stopped short at the deadly look in his eyes.

“A-a kid like you shouldn’t be going into the desert! It’s not safe!” the man beneath his blade choked out, voice a little shaky.

Ruka scoffed and removed the knife while shoving the man into his comrade, “I think I can take care of myself.” With that he turned and left through the gate, with nothing but the wide expanse of desert in front of him and the bustling, dusty market town fading behind him while he walked. 

The cloudy day didn’t lessen up at all, not even after Ruka had been traveling for hours, paying attention to what little terrain there was to observe. At least the clouds obstructed the heat that would have probably made his search more uncomfortable. His sandals slipped on the sand and his small pack on his back bounced against his bare skin beneath his hood. Knowing he was heading into the desert, Ruka had only packed the necessities: his short, white hood to keep the sun off his head, his belt of knives at his waist and poisoned needles at his shoulders, a small bag of fresh supplies and water skins. He didn’t wear a shirt because of the extreme heat, but he did trade his regular travel pants for a lighter pair of airy, loose cotton ones that provided easy movement for the assassin. He would need comfortable movement for his task; his target had run from town, which meant that he would most-likely put up a fight if Ruka fell upon him, meaning he needed to be able to move fast. Ruka had left the town at the point where his mark had two days prior, thanks to rumors and interrogating the thugs and shady dealers that frequented the tavern and the supply shop.

Ruka’s eyes scanned the bare sand dunes when he crested the top of one particularly large one, the warm wind causing his hood and hair to flutter as it passed. He saw nothing but the still, empty expanse of sand before him, dotted here and there with some small rocky plateaus or flattened, cracked bowls of sand that could have held water in any form of rain. Whatever footprints his mark had left would have been whipped away by the constant wind so looking for a visible trail would be impossible. Instead, Ruka looked for signs of encampment or for discarded items that could have easily been thrown away by his target, thinking that none would follow him into these accursed dunes.

It was at least a day and a half before Ruka managed to find something, a tossed canteen or water skin that was almost half-buried in the soft sand. He picked up the item and rolled it around in his hands, by then a small sandstorm had picked up and he had to pull up part of his hood to keep it out of his nose and eyes. The water skin in his hand was empty and dry, but he unstopped the top and rolled his finger around the inside as far as it could reach, it came back wet. His mark, or someone, had been through here only an hour or two before, Ruka was catching up; this caused a small, wicked grin to form on Ruka’s face beneath the fabric of his hood.

The wind blasted him for a moment, and Ruka raised an arm to shield himself a little from the biting sand. He made for what looked like a small gorge between two high sand dunes, hoping that the gorge would shield him from most of the sand and wind until the storm passed on to other parts of the desert. He licked his dry lips when he got to the gorge, pressing his back to the rough stone and squinting into the swirling sand. It was a little easier to see now that he was out of most of the wind, so Ruka walked along the gorge while keeping pressed close to the wall. He was hoping to perhaps find a small indent or cave that he could shelter in, though it was unlikely.

Just as he was about to turn around and go back when the wind blasted him again, Ruka’s foot caught on something beneath the sand and he nearly tripped. Backing up with a muttered curse, Ruka looked down to see what had bungled him. From the sand, he could see what looked like white bone, thick and stained slightly reddish though that could have just been a trick of the sandstorm. Ruka frowned and kicked the bone aside with one foot and unearthed the rest of the corpse. Half eaten and left in the sand, he nudged the head over with his foot and saw the long scar across the right eye, and the greasy mop of hair that had been dusted dry with sand grains.

Instead of feeling horror like most people would, Ruka clenched his teeth and snarled. Someone, or something, had gotten to his mark before he did! This infuriated him and Ruka bent so he was crouched over the body, searching the man for anything of value on his discarded corpse.

Later on, Ruka would have cursed himself even more for not hearing the sound behind him, though many would have said he hadn’t heard due to the howling wind and the blinding sandstorm. Yet Ruka prided himself in his superior skills at observation, and always thought of himself as nearly impossible to take by surprise.

He was wrong.

The blow came suddenly across the back of his head, causing his vision to flash black, white, and red for a second. Then the edges of his sight broke up into fuzzy darkness until he teetered to the side and fell. He didn’t see his attacker, but he did hear the low hiss on the sand and only attributed it to the sandstorm before his vision failed and he lost consciousness.

 

* * *

 

He was being dragged.

The floor beneath him was semi-warm, probably desert sandstone due to the grainy, scratchy quality he felt on his skin. 

He also knew that he was bound with rope, and that he wasn’t wearing anything but his airy cotton pants. Someone had taken his stuff, and he was still fuzzy on who that ‘someone’ was at the moment.

The dragging stopped, and Ruka felt his legs drop to the ground. He was lying on his side and his hands were tied behind his back, yet his legs were unbound, a grave mistake that his captor was soon going to regret. He heard the sound of hissing, but it was more like the sound of something heavy sliding over the stone floor, a heavy cloak perhaps? No, it was too regular to be the swish of fabric.

Ruka shifted, and groaned when his head throbbed dully behind his ears. He frowned and opened his eyes, blinking the dryness from them as if he were coming out of a long, leisurely nap.

“Ah, so the beautiful maiden awakens,” he heard a low hiss from his captor, and instantly felt a chill run down his spine.

With no less resistance to the pain in his head and neck, Ruka lifted his head and regarded his captor while his eyes adjusted. He blinked again and felt his eyes travel upwards into what he saw was a painted face and cold, reptilian blue eyes. Ruka started a little and pulled back with an intake of breath, only to wish he hadn’t. 

The man before him was tall and muscular, wearing nothing but a colourful sash about his waist that obstructed his groin. Yet this wasn’t the strangest part of his captor. The man had pale green skin and even darker green hair that hung down at his chest with two gold ornaments threaded into the strands somehow. Again, this wasn’t the strangest part of the man. What had caused Ruka to pull back, what had caused him to frown in confusion and shock, was the fact that the man had no legs. Instead of legs, the sash covered the base of a long and powerful green snake’s tail that kept the man upright and coiled along the floor behind him. That was what had caused the hissing sound against the sandstone, not fabric, a long tail.

“Welcome to my abode, little human.”

Ruka thought, in that very moment aside from _‘fuck’,_ was that he had been hit one too many times in the skull to believe what he was seeing.


	2. Broken Bonds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: Strong Language

“Did you enjoy your little nap?” the tone of the snake-man’s voice was sultry and mocking, not to mention cold and objectifying. Ruka glared back from the floor where he was tied, a million colourful curses and choice words of surprise racing through his head. Though, despite the racing thoughts, none of them showed any difference or reaction on his face as he glared back at the man.

He remained silent, knowing full well that in situations like this, silence was always the better option. Yet his captor didn’t seem to be very impressed with this, the snake shifted, his coils in motion behind him as he crossed his arms, “Seems that you’re not up for talking? Such a shame,” he narrowed his inhuman eyes at Ruka and grinned. Ruka snarled quietly, like an animal cornered by a predator. This only seemed to widen the grin on his captor’s face as he tried to sit up with his hands tied behind his back, little did his captor know that Ruka kept a small knife hidden in the tight seam of his pants, just on the inside lining of fabric, for emergencies just like this.

“Can you speak or are you a simple-minded human and unable to? Or is it that I am so stunning that I take your very breath away?” the snake cocked his head to the side as he watched Ruka.

 _Certainly has an ego for a half-reptile creature…_ Ruka thought dryly. He shifted so that he was sitting up, using the muscles in his abdomen to lift his upper body into a sitting position. It was mostly so that he could hide his furiously working hands from the snake as he slipped the knife from its hidden pocket, starting to saw at the ropes at his back while distracting the snake with the movement.

“Well?” the snake man was starting to sound impatient.

Ruka tilted his head and ignored the soreness in the base of his skull, his gaze sharp as steel, “Looks like those wives tales were true, that or I’ve gone insane.” This earned a grating laugh from the snake that sounded more akin to metal scraping across sandstone. Ruka felt the first few bonds snapping behind him, his captor had bound him tightly so there were quite a few layers of thick rope to cut through. The mistake was that his captor had used rope, Ruka could get out of almost any kind of binding, save metal, and he almost smiled at the knowledge that his captor was not privy to.

“You were insane enough to run into the desert alone, little human. Tell me, what were you doing out here all on your lonesome?” The man leaned down, tilting Ruka’s chin up with a gentle touch of his clawed fingers, it almost made Ruka recoil but he kept a strong hold on his body’s reactions. 

“Hunting.”

The man tilted his head, “Hunting? What on earth could you be hunting out in these sparse lands?” He was close enough that he could have heard Ruka sawing through the ropes so the assassin stopped, his body rigid while the snake man trailed a graceful claw down his chest ever so lightly.

“I had a mark,” he said plainly, remembering the half-eaten body he had found before he had blacked out, “But I see that something had gotten to him before me,” 

The man raised a graceful eyebrow, “A mark? So you’re an assassin?” he didn’t get another response from Ruka, except a dark, hard stare. The snake man pulled back and Ruka went back to cutting the ropes immediately, “How interesting, maybe I wont eat you after all,” he chuckled harshly. The idea was revolting to Ruka, enough that his mouth curled in a short grimace at the thought; this only earned a deeper second chuckle from the man. “Surprised to hear of my diet, little human? You do look quite delicious, probably more appetizing than that last meal I had. You see, the reason you’re here is because you interrupted my lunch, I _was_ going to have you for dinner as payback, but you’re far too remarkable for me to pass up for just one good meal,” Ruka was almost through the ropes, one more precise slice and he would be free.

“I probably wouldn’t be a good thing to eat, you see I’m tough and probably would give you a stomach ache,” Ruka narrowed his eyes and cut through the last of the rope, letting it fall to the sandstone floor. He kept his arms in the same position though; he didn’t want to alert his captor just yet, not while his attention was solely on Ruka.

“Oh I don’t know about that, you sell yourself too _short._ I’d love a warm meal,” 

“I don’t go down easily.”

Another smirk, “That could be interpreted in so many ways, my little assassin,”

_“Fuck off.”_

Another chuckle, “Do you have a name?”

“Yeah,” Ruka tilted his head and hissed, “But I’m not telling _you.”_

The man didn’t seem to grasp the situation and just laughed more, setting spark to a small flame of anger in Ruka’s gut. “You don’t seem to have understood the question. See, you’re not free anymore, little assassin,” the man turned and slithered to the other side of the small room to pick up a length of chain that was at least as long as Ruka was high. “I suggest you obey, before I resort to force, and you wont like howI discipline my slaves.” the warning was cold, different than the way the snake had been talking earlier. Instead of cool, aloof amusement, this threat was veiled but dark. Ruka could tell that there was more to this snake man than met the eye, and he wasn’t about to underestimate an unknown opponent in an unknown location. He had nothing but the little knife in his hand, possibly the second that might still be concealed in his hair, and his physical skills. This creature was bigger than he was, and had the advantage of a prehensile tail that could probably crush Ruka if he had a mind to do it. Ruka had seen what happened to animals caught in a snake’s coils, on a smaller scale, and he didn’t much like the idea of being a larger demonstration of that kind of brutality.

“So? Do I have to force your name out, little assassin?” the veiled threat still hung in the air, the snake still holding on to the length of chain in his clawed hands.

“Stop calling me little.” The word was irking Ruka, and he hated when he got angry. Whenever he was too angry he made mistakes, he tripped up, and right now wasn’t the best time for that. Ruka twisted the knife in his hand so that it was gripped in a better position for him to fight with, but still he didn’t move yet.

The snake ran the chains through his hands, almost playing with them. They weren’t too thick, but Ruka could tell that they were made well, the jingling metal grated on his nerves. “Does it bother you, little human?” he said with a light hiss and a smirk that showed that he knew what he was doing to the human.

“Stop it.”

“Stop what, little human?”

Ruka ground his teeth to keep calm, “Don’t call me little.” His anger was starting to boil; ‘little’ meant small, and small meant that the snake was looking down on him. He _hated_ that.

“Then give me your proper name, _little_ assassin,” the snake said with a tone that practically dripped with amusement.

He had had enough, Ruka suddenly leapt forward and slashed at the snake, who only had seconds to move backwards. The knife still landed, but only a small cut to the snake’s collarbone, slashing a red line across the smooth skin the way a fisherman would slice the belly of a fish. Ruka then landed on one leg and, in one fluid movement, brought his leg up and kicked the snake man in the chest, knocking him to the floor so he would hit his head on the way down.

“It’s Ruka.” He hissed before he took off at a breakneck pace, out the open door and into what seemed to be the hallway of a desert ruin. 

He had no time to admire the ancient architecture in the stone walls though; he had to find the way out, fast. The snake would only be dazed by the kick in the head, so he had only seconds to determine which way was the exit. His senses went into overdrive, and he could tell he was underground because the air was cool; he turned down to the left where the floor just barely sloped upwards. He followed the smell of wind and open air that contrasted with the dim, wet-sand smell of the underground ruin. Ruka’s heart pounded as he raced upwards and turned corner after corner, worried that he had chosen wrong and he was merely cornering himself. That was until he rounded another corner and saw an open, crumbling archway and a chunk of the star-dotted black sky. He practically sang out with relief when he saw it, and he pushed his body towards it. By now his captor was probably chasing after him, Ruka knew he only had seconds to take stock of his surroundings and make a decision when he burst from the ruins into the night air.

He was in some kind of oasis in the desert, palm trees with prickly trunks arched above him and there was a small lake of sparkling water and soft grass off to his left. To his right was open desert that gleamed like white marble in the moonlight, the doorway to freedom. He was about to make a run for it when he heard slithering behind him and a few muttered curses, if he ran for the dunes now, the snake man would certainly catch him on the open ground. Ruka’s mind raced with his heart and he caught sight of the nearest palm tree, it would have to do for now.

Ruka took off towards it, and practically threw himself up the trunk, wincing as the sharp bark pricked and scratched at his skin. He hauled himself up into the thick fronds at the top and stilled himself so that the tree stopped shaking from his exertion, it stopped just seconds before the snake man emerged from the dimly lit ruins. He watched from the tree as the man went around the oasis, searching and cursing out as he tried to find Ruka. The assassin was happy that he had jumped at the tree, because his tracks would have easily given away his position if he hadn’t. He was also thankful for the wind, watching it dust away his light remaining footprints while the snake looked around the area by the lake instead of where Ruka was hiding.

He would have to wait until the snake stopped searching, wait until the creature headed back into its den so Ruka could sneak down and take off into the desert. He looked up, gauging that it must be around midnight from the high position of the half moon in the sky. He quickly found north by checking the stars, and then looked out in the direction that would eventually take him back to the market town. He would have to pass a few more of the trees, but they had bushy bases that could provide cover if he needed it. He would wait a few hours, then he would make a break for it, for freedom. Ruka shifted his legs under him, crouching as comfortably as he could in the tree, and waited, his eyes ever watchful on the ground below him incase the snake came along.

 

* * *

 

It was a few hours until dawn when Ruka didn’t hear or see any sign of the snake man around the oasis, he had fallen into a light doze but he had kept his senses tuned and alerted for any sounds. He roused himself and scanned the ground on all sides of the tree, his hiding place having kept him well concealed.

He gave the ground one last check, before he slowly untangled himself from the tree, his muscles a little stiff from being in the same position for so long. Ruka quietly slid down the curving trunk of the tree, ignoring the way the scales of the bark caught on his skin, hair and pants. He landed with a soft, whispering thud in the dry grass at the base of the tree, his feet quiet on the ground thanks to having no sandals. He stayed there for a few minutes, making sure that he wasn’t heard or had alerted the serpent man. He kept his muscles tense but loose, moving like a cat as he ducked from the grass and darted to the other cluster. He waited in each cluster of grass for a few minutes, just to be sure, and he made sure not to make more footprints than he needed too.

He was hiding in the last patch of grass now, his eyes flashing about to make sure he was alone. Ahead of him he could see the open path to the desert, his road to freedom. Yet that road was completely open, no shelter and no concealing elements to help him hide.

 _Snakes don’t like the cold, so I’ll be able to put a few miles between us before the sun is up, and I have no supplies… but its better than staying here!_ He reasoned with himself before he made one last check, seeing that he was alone, Ruka then shot out of the grass like a rabbit and took off towards the desert.

He never got there.

Something rammed into Ruka’s side and sent him sprawling over the sand with a muffled curse. He rolled off of his back and crouched low to the ground when he beheld the snake man again, standing over him with that ever-present, satisfied grin on his face.

“Going somewhere, my little human?” he slid around Ruka with surprising speed, blocking his path to the desert with his bulk. Ruka couldn’t attack him the way he had before, the snake would see it coming and he wasn’t able to play that card again. He knew that if he was grabbed then the snake would win; he was larger than Ruka and could easily restrict his movements enough to actually chain him this time. So Ruka wouldn’t give him the opening he needed, not willingly, or stupidly.

“Anywhere but here.” Ruka snarled at the other and tossed a handful of sand into the snake’s eyes, earning a curse from him as he tried to duck around him. He managed to get a little ways before he was knocked back again by the tail, Ruka’s heart leapt and he dodged just in time before the strong tail could get a grip on him. The assassin kept the other in his sight the entire time, knowing full-well how snakes would coil around their prey to keep them from moving. He rolled beneath another attempt at catching him, but was met with the snake’s claws. He was only just able to pull away, earning a shallow scratch on his chest that bled small drops of crimson into the sand. He pulled up and glared at the snake, who was blinking the sand from his eyes by now.

“An eye for an eye, you scratch me, I scratch you. Now we’re even, little assassin,” the voice grated on Ruka’s very nerves and he clenched his teeth. His muscles shifted and locked into place, the snake couldn’t jump, he couldn’t get off the ground, maybe that was the way to beat him. Ruka’s mind worked furiously to find his opponent’s weakness, but he couldn’t find any that he would be familiar with. The only weaknesses he could think of would be on a human, not some half-creature. He _hated_ not knowing how to fight his opponents.

He carefully assessed and planned his next move; thinking hard, he gracefully moved one leg behind him and stepped to the side. Each muscle in his body was hardened for a fight, even armed with nothing but a small knife Ruka could do quite a bit of damage. He tried to cool his head, though the frantic thoughts of freedom were taunting him just beyond his reach. He had to deal with the snake blocking his path first, and his eyes steadied to a cool, calculative expression.

“Nothing to say? Such a shame, I do love good banter in a fight. You move quite well, for a clumsy _little_ human,” the calm evaporated.

Ruka let out a horrible, animalistic snarl and shot forward. He kneed the man in the chest, colliding with his sternum at a rapid pace and knocking the snake to the ground. He crouched over the man with his small knife held to the snake’s throat, his teeth clenched tight and bared.

“I’m. Not. _Little.”_ He pressed the blade closer so that a drop of blood trickled down the column of the snake’s throat.

Yet instead of shock or fear, he saw nothing but pure, unadorned amusement on his opponent’s face, “You move fast, and quite beautifully, little assassin… but not fast enough,” Ruka only had a second for the confusion to register in his mind before cold, tight coils wrapped around his waist and his legs, forcing them apart and lifting him up. He was flipped onto his back, then his stomach, his knife knocked from his hand and both wrists pinned to his back with a severely strong grip. His captor wasn’t about to underestimate him again, that was for sure.

Fear jolted through Ruka and he fought back, thrashing like a netted fish, shouting and screaming curses while he felt the cold touch of chains to his wrists. The strange sensation of scales holding his legs sent shivers up his spine and he wanted nothing more than to separate that feeling from his skin. The snake pressed his hips against Ruka’s to keep him grounded, but that only enraged the assassin more. He managed to get a hand free and swung it around to punch the creature, he wasn’t sure if he could land a hit but he had to try.

His punch hit.

The snake froze above him and Ruka had no choice but to freeze too; with his head pressed into the sand, Ruka could only look sideways up at the snake. From the corner of his eye he could see the snake grimace, and spit to the side, he had spat blood.

The atmosphere went bone-chillingly still, as if the whole desert were holding its breath for something. He felt the shift of the snake at his back and Ruka shifted, panting with his face pressed against the rough sand. He felt the breath at his ear and he struggled again, only to be held in that iron-hard grip and unable to find any leverage out.

“You want to be free so badly?” the voice sounded at his ear and Ruka’s breath nearly ceased, _“Beg for it…”_

“Like hell I will!” he spat back as best he could, given the circumstances. 

He could practically _hear_ the other smiling, the cool presence at his back an oppressive weight that seemed to settle even more. The snake’s hand came up and pressed to Ruka’s hips, getting a short intake of breath from Ruka.

 _He wouldn’t._  

“I see…” 

_He wouldn’t dare._

The voice at his ear was even closer now, sending a jolt of ice up Ruka’s spine.

“When I’m finished with you, I’ll have you _begging_ for more.” The snake pushed Ruka’s legs apart, the assassin went cold and his heart practically stopped.

 _Apparently he would._  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter two! After chapter three the updates will become slower, but hopefully not too far apart. I want to warn those who are more sensitive that the next chapter will contain some non-consensual stuff, but I'll try not to make it too intense (though no matter what I do it will be quite intense regardless). Just a fair warning! Each chapter will have their respective warnings!
> 
> As for characters, if you guys want references for what Ruka or Evaden look like, then come visit my blog and my friend's!
> 
> For Ruka: http://arianwen44.tumblr.com (I draw him quite often~)  
> For Evaden: http://loveless987.tumblr.com/post/143251323084/art-by-the-ever-wonderful-moy-its-a-wip-but-i
> 
> Now I'm off to enjoy a lovely cup of tea and cuddle up with a book~


	3. Retrospection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: Porn, Non-consensual, morning after, forced sex.

Ruka came back to himself gradually, first regaining the feeling in his hands and arms, then his legs and the rest of his body. He felt like he was filled up with heavy stones, and that he couldn’t properly move at all because of the weight holding him down. He frowned and his eyes were gritty, almost as if he had been walking through a sandstorm with his eyes wide open. He knew this hadn’t been the case, but that was what they felt like anyways. Ruka blinked slowly, opening his eyes to a dim shaft of morning light that came through a small window up high in the wall, the dust in the room making the light seem much hazier, that or his eyes just weren’t focusing properly just yet.

He tried to move, only to feel a jolt of pain go through his body from his legs up that caused him to freeze. A cold chill went up and down Ruka’s spine as he was brought back to the present with the sudden onslaught of memories, rushing back to the forefront of his mind and overtaking him. His body went stiff when he felt the cool press around his body, his eyes darting downwards and seeing the dark green coils wrapped around him, glinting dully in the dim morning light. He felt a cold sweat begin to form on his skin, feeling the muscles in the tail shift over his bare limbs like river stones.

 

* * *

 

_He had been drugged, that much he knew. His body wasn’t reacting fast enough for him to throw off his assailant, so he must have been drugged. He had also been dragged back to the desert ruin, the chains pinning his arms to his back so he couldn’t fight or grab any sort of weapon. His fear shot through him when he realized that he was lying on what seemed to be a low bed on his stomach, his arms behind his back._

_“About time you awoke, I wish for you to remember this punishment.” He heard the cold voice at his ear the very second that the man pressed to his body. He tried to move, to get away, but his reflexes were lagging like they were stuck in molasses. He felt the cold touch of the snake’s tail wrap around both of his ankles and up his calves, dragging against his skin slowly, enticingly. The man above him pressed his hips to his own and he could hear a faint groan above him. Instantly he gained a few seconds of clarity and he started to struggle, thrashing his arms in a vain attempt to break his bonds._

_A clawed hand grabbed hold of the chains and yanked, pulling them taught so that Ruka couldn’t move them, only shift his shoulders in protest as the snake’s tail wrapped around his thighs and spread his legs. “That would not be wise, just relax and enjoy the pleasure, my little assassin.”_

_“Get off me!” he managed to growl despite his face being crushed into the sheets below him._

_“I will not, my little assassin, you need to know that I will not accept such behaviour as before. You are mine now, and punishment is due,” He then felt the press of a cold, scaly tail tip to his rear, and only then did he realize that he had been stripped of his clothing._

_All he could do was curse and snarl into the sheets and thrash his shoulders to no avail._

* * *

 

Ruka couldn’t sit up, he came to realize that he was on his side; flanked by thickly scaled snake hide to his front, and a cool presence at his back, sapping his body heat. With this fixed position it made it harder for Ruka to take in his surroundings, but he did the best he could by lifting his head.

He was lying on a low bed in an ornately decorated room. Above him was stone ceiling, most-likely sandstone from what he remembered of the night before. He could see ruffled sheets that had been pushed to the sides, and many, _many_ brightly coloured silk pillows all around him in a kind of ‘nest’. The sunlight that managed to sneak into the room from the window high in the wall fell onto the bed, warming his sore skin and making the snake man at his back shift in his sleep. Ruka’s eyes darted backwards, but he couldn’t see anything except the graceful curve of a hip that fused, a little disturbingly, to green snakeskin. 

He found that he had a hard time breathing, and only then did he discover the arm that was draped over his own waist, holding him in place so that he couldn’t move very much. Ruka went even colder when he saw the claws that tipped each finger on the pale, greenish hand that rested just past his belly.

 

* * *

 

_He clenched his teeth and bit back any sounds he could have possibly made, just because this creature wanted something out of him didn’t mean that he would get it so easily. Ruka’s body had gone tense as a board, but he was starting to lose confidence that he could keep this up much longer. The snake had already pushed his tail in as far as it could go, and even though Ruka resisted with every fiber of his will, his body was saying something completely different._

_“Will you not moan for me my little human? You seem to be struggling so hard not too, does that not say something?” he felt the warm breath at his ear as the snake bent over his back, one clawed hand raking slowly down Ruka’s chest to between his legs, cupping what he found there and giving him one hard, long stroke. Ruka had to bite his lip to keep from opening his mouth and responding, and to keep from making any form of noise. He heard a chuckle at his ear while the snake brushed his fangs along the warm skin just behind his ear, sending goose bumps up and down Ruka’s skin despite his desperate wish for his body to stop responding._

_“So perservering… and to think someone as minute as you could be so prideful,” the snake continued to stroke him. Even though Ruka didn’t want to react, his body had other plans, almost as if it and his mind were two separate entities at this point. The snake thrust his tail tip in and out, slowly picking up speed as he enticed more bodily reactions from the assassin, his other hand scratching red lines down Ruka’s flank to rest on his thigh. The snake pushed his legs even further apart, settling the bulk of his tail in the space between Ruka’s legs and grinding his body against the other. A tiny whine escaped Ruka, which he instantly destroyed by smashing his face into the sheet beneath him._

_“What was that?” the snake gripped his hips harder with one hand, teasing Ruka’s arousal with his other, “I cannot quite hear you,”_

_“I… said… get off!” with a surge of willpower and energy, Ruka twisted his body and used the back of his leg in an attempt to kick the snake away from him. He landed on his back and managed to get the snake to back away, except he caught Ruka’s leg before it could land. In a few seconds, the playfully victorious look on the snake’s face vanished, replaced with anger as his grip tightened, digging his claws into Ruka’s ankle and drawing a few drops of blood._

_“Ah, so we are going to play it the hard way are we?” his voice was steady and cold, “That’s quite alright, I don’t mind at all.”_

_Ruka then regretted even moving at all._

* * *

      

It was then that he noticed the bruises and the scratches, all along his body. Ruka saw the harsh, hand-shaped bruises already forming and darkening on his upper arms and his hips. There were red bite marks on his chest and his neck ached with them, he felt raw, as if he had been scrubbed with thick sand paper and then tossed around for good measure. When he tried to move his legs into a more comfortable position, he felt a sticky mess between his thighs and even on his abdomen. 

Ruka’s mind raced, trying to categorize everything he _could_ remember, trying to make sense of all that had happened. He knew that a half-snake half-human creature had captured him; he knew also that he had tried to escape and had been caught again and chained for his efforts. He knew that when he had tried to fight back, he had only enraged the creature further and that had resulted in… his hands tensed in the sheets as he balled them into vengeful fists.

 

* * *

 

_Ruka thought that his teeth were going to break, that he might explode from how tense he was. The man had his legs spread wide, his body practically fused with Ruka as he thrust savagely into the other’s body. Ruka tried to catch his breath, tilting his head to the side and hissing with each thrust that hit against his insides again and again. The snake had pinned him down after he had fought back, wrapping his coils around Ruka’s legs to keep him from pulling them up and kicking the man again. Ruka could do nothing but lie there and take it._

_That didn’t seem to be enough._

_Claws pricked under his chin as the snake man forced Ruka’s head back so that he was facing him. The cold eyes above him had become slightly heated, and the man’s mouth was open in a languid, semi-permanent expression of rapture._

_“Look at me.” He hissed, but Ruka just snapped at his hand, “My… If you keep this up, I will have to punish you with more than just sex,” the snake warned, giving one hard thrust and making Ruka yelp with surprise. “You must learn now, that you are no longer in control human. I could have given you a lovely night, one full of pleasure but you brought this on yourself. You insisted on actions that needed retribution. Really now, any other master would have cut off your hand by now. I am really such a kind master. You should be grateful for having landed in my lap,”_

_He spat, “F-fuck off…”_

_“Now, now… why not enjoy the pleasures?” the man slowly laid his body down, still rolling his hips. He settled his weight all the way onto and into Ruka, and the other felt a spike of actual pleasure race through his abdomen and up his body, getting him to gasp suddenly. He slammed his hand over his mouth, but was only met with a self-satisfied chuckle. “There we are.”_

_He didn’t want this, but clearly his body was starting to have other plans._

* * *

 

Ruka felt sick, felt raw, felt used. 

He wanted to drag himself away from the coils wrapped around him, he desperately wanted to run away. He wanted to escape! He ignored the protests of his sore hips and muscles, using all of his strength to pull himself out from the snake’s grasp. He managed to get out, only his legs failed him and he fell to the floor with a strangled cry. He hit at least seven of the bruised areas of his body when he had come crashing to the stone floor, and all of those areas throbbed painfully, so much so that he curled up in a ball on the floor to wait it out.

As he shook and waited for the pain to abate, he felt the tickling press of something against his neck that dangled from his ear. Ruka lifted one not-aching hand to brush over what felt like a delicate chain, he ran his fingers along its bumpy surface until he found what had fallen across his throat. It felt like a bead, or a gem of some kind; it was warm to the touch, probably warmed by the heat that radiated from his body. It was an earring. He followed the trail of the chain back up to where the metal punctured his earlobe and then snaked around to clasp at the tip of his ear, when he brought his hand back around he could see flecks of dry blood on his fingertips.

 

* * *

 

_He wasn’t sure how many times he cursed, Ruka couldn’t even remember which way was up anymore or whether or not he was dreaming. His body had long-since given in to the snake’s administrations, which were still as rough as ever. Yet now he had slowed, though he lost none of his ferocity. Now it was as if he were marking Ruka, staining him, scarring his body so that no matter how hard he tried he could never erase any memory of what he had done to him._

_His mind was still iron-hard though, but his mind was clouded by the drug in his system. Ruka’s back arched again when the snake toyed with his arousal, stroking down his body as he thrust again and again. The press of his scales started to feel like a swell of river stones between his legs, building up a pressure in Ruka’s abdomen that his mind furtively denied feeling at all, but his body had long-since caged his will and the pressure continued to build._

_Breath mingled with his, and the press of flesh against his own made Ruka’s eyes flutter open again. The man crushed their lips together, tilting Ruka’s head back against the bedding and setting off a dozen of alarms in Ruka’s mind, alarms that his body refused to listen to._

_“Excellent, you are finally starting to ease, my little assassin.” He didn’t relax, he was still tense, but Ruka couldn’t fight back anymore, all of his energy had been spent. All his body cared about now was relieving that intoxicating pleasure between his legs that the snake continued to grind against._

_Ruka’s body felt heavy, glazed with sweat and precum, his arms numb at his back and marred by the chains. All he could do now was gasp as suddenly the man brought the pace up again, leaning on his elbows over Ruka as he drove in over and over. He gripped the assassin’s arms tightly, as if he were going to try and escape once again. A wave of hopelessness washed over Ruka as he shifted and moved his hips for more, his body in full control now as they both sought relief._

_He couldn’t tell how long it was until he finally let out a strangled, half-stifled cry, spending himself over his own abdomen in a hot flurry of desperation. He didn’t have to wait long before the man holding him down did the same, emptying himself inside Ruka with a long, drawn-out, pleasured moan that almost sounded like a hiss. They lay against one another, Ruka shaking slightly and the snake man thrusting shallowly between them._

_He hadn’t felt like this for a long time, and it made Ruka sick._

* * *

 

He heard a shift on the bed above him and Ruka saw the snake eyes blinking sleepily down at him, a satisfied grin on his face. “Admiring your new souvenir?” he said in a sing-song, slightly-husky morning voice. He spoke the way a lover would speak to their companion, but Ruka knew he saw him as anything but.

The assassin glared back at him from the floor, the pain in his bruised muscles suddenly feeling like nothing compared to his bruised and battered pride. He tried to puff out his chest in defiance, to spit some unpleasant words back at the snake, but somehow he was stopped. He felt a surge of pain that originated around the ear with the earring and he clawed at it with a noise of confusion.

Then suddenly the pain was gone as quickly as it had come, leaving him collapsed on the floor in a fetal position, clutching his ear and blinking away his disorientation.

“I did warn you, that any defiance would be met with punishment.” that same sing-song voice grated on his nerves like nails on a chalkboard, but all Ruka could do was roll his gaze back up to the snake, bewilderment etched into his expression.

Now that he could recall his memory from the night before, Ruka remembered what the snake had said to him just before he had passed out.

His stomach dropped.

 

* * *

 

 _He was in and out of consciousness, his body exhausted from spending most of the night in a tree, fighting, then resisting and giving in to… whatever they had just done. Ruka blinked as he felt himself being rolled over onto his side and his hands released from the chains, and then were carefully laid out beside him on the bed while he was pushed over onto his back again. His arms tingled and prickled as the blood circulation returned, but he couldn’t move them just yet. He felt a gentle hand brushing through his hair, combing it out of his face so that it sprawled in sandy-gold rivers over the sheets, he almost felt calm._

_Until blinding pain shot through his left ear and he shot up with a wild cry of pain, only to flop back over when his energy failed him, seizing at his now throbbing ear as blood dripped from it. Then he caught hold of the thing now puncturing his earlobe, a metal earring with a hazy blue crystal dangling from a short chain._

_Then the bed shifted to accommodate the weight of the snake again as he leaned over Ruka, grinning like a cat above him. “Now you are completely mine, that earring is your chain to me. It is imbued with magic that is connected to me and now is linked to you through your blood. It will bind you to me, so if I die, you die.” The words were like nails in a coffin, like bars in a cell, hammering into the ground around him and trapping Ruka like an animal in a cage. “If I feel like you deserve pain, then the earring will hurt you. If I feel otherwise, it can give you pleasure. Do you understand now, slave? You are mine now. Even if you cut off your ear, you are mine.”_

* * *

 

“Do you remember everything, little human?” he was brought out of the memory by the sweetly vicious words from the bed above him. His eyes slowly traveled up to meet the cold, hard gaze of his captor, “You might as well face it. You aren’t free anymore. You belong to Evaden Asmodeus. You belong to _me.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHEW... I haven't written anything like this in a LONG time. I look forward to seeing reactions to everything! Ruka's going through hell right now but hopefully it'll turn around~ xD
> 
> Updates will be much slower now that the first three chapters are out, possibly twice or so a month (maybe more but we'll see!)


	4. Trapped

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: None

 

The water soothed his skin when he gently eased himself in, his muscles tightened and he tensed for a few seconds until he was up to his mid-upper-arm in cool water. Ruka rubbed at his arms and winced a little, feeling the bruises along his skin begin to complain from his attention. His body was sore constantly, though now he was becoming used to the pain as he normally did. However, he wouldn’t grow accustomed to the abuse he was taking anytime soon.

Evaden had taken to what he called ‘breaking him in’, which meant that every night when he returned from who knows where, he would wrap himself around Ruka and do what he liked with him for however long. Ruka had tried running away, he had even tried hiding up in one of the trees so that the snake couldn’t get to him when he returned; but his attempts were thwarted by the damned earring now permanently attached to his ear. Apparently, Evaden could mentally send out a command to the earring and order pain or pleasure if he so chose, and each time Ruka had tried to run or hide, he had chosen pain. Ruka had fallen out of the tree and bruised his left shoulder for his troubles, and even then Evaden had dragged him inside and used him as he pleased.

Ruka hated it. He didn’t want to be some fuck-toy for some over-confident, self-satisfied snake man. He already had his own scars when it came to sex, and now, thanks to Evaden, they were reopening again. He stared at his wavering reflection in the water and snarled, slamming his fist into it in an attempt to wash away the bite marks and the bruises all over his throat, torso, and wherever else the snake could get to.

He rubbed the back of his neck beneath the ponytail he had tightly bound at his back; the water droplets trickled down his back and sent a shiver up his spine. He stayed in the water for a while longer; he didn’t want to go anywhere close to the ruins because he knew that the snake was there. He didn’t want to fight anymore; his pride was far too bruised, bruised more than his body would ever be. His pride was lashing its tail, every time Evaden held him down and did what he wanted it locked his pride away and it scratched and clawed furiously at the cage that his body placed it in.

Just as he was lost in thought, Ruka felt an odd tugging sensation on his ear. Instinctively he whipped his head about and made to grab a weapon, his reflexes working harder than usual. Yet he had no weapon, no knife to grab since Evaden had taken them all, under the semblance of ‘I can’t trust you just yet so you can’t have your things back’. Ruka was annoyed at this almost as much as being treated like some kind of toy or object; his knives were his most precious possessions. They weren’t fancy or expensive, but they had saved his life before and he didn’t like being parted from them.

When he turned he didn’t see anyone near him though, despite still feeling the weird pull at his ear. After a moment he guessed that it must also be part of the strange jewelry’s magic hold over him, one that Evaden could evoke whenever he pleased. Ruka did his best to ignore the pulling, because he knew that it was some form of magic that the snake could use to summon him, and Ruka refused to be called upon like some mongrel to his master. 

A few seconds later the tugging was followed up by a sharp jab of pain to his temple, Ruka flinched and cupped his ear, but he still did not move from his spot in the water. If the snake wanted him, then Evaden would need to put more effort into it.

The pain increased and he heard an impatient, “Ruka!” coming from the ruins behind him. The assassin growled and stiffly rose, streaming water as he stepped back onto the hardened sand. Grabbing his pants and stepping into them, not caring that he was still wet, he walked _very_ slowly back to the ruins.

When he arrived he came upon Evaden, his arms crossed and an equally cross look on his face. Ruka had come to know that the snake painted his face in order to keep his expression calm throughout the day if he went out, yet when at home he openly, though openly should be taken with a grain of salt in Ruka’s opinion, expressed himself. The snake looked annoyed, or so it appeared to Ruka, and the former assassin just raised an eyebrow and looked defiantly back at the snake.

“Someone still has to learn that they do not have free will anymore. You are a slave now, and that means coming when you are told,” a tiny smirk twitched at his mouth, “and I mean in every possible meaning of that phrase.” Ruka’s stomach flipped and he glared needles back at Evaden, his jaw clenched hard and set.

“I’m not some damned dog you can summon whenever you want. I won’t come running just because you call me,” he made sure to avoid the possible _other_ meanings to Evaden’s wording, though the snake probably caught on to that and it only made his smirk widen a little more.

“We shall see,” he said in his deep, purring tone that set Ruka’s teeth on edge. It made him feel like the snake-man was looking down on him, and in this case he was. It enraged Ruka and only made him fight back harder; there was no way that he was going to roll over like some contented house cat whenever his master called for it, and there was no way he would _ever_ do anything else that Evaden was implying.

Just as Ruka was about to snap back at Evaden, he dumped a pile of what seemed to be sheets into his arms. Ruka was glad he had quick reflexes, or else he would have dropped them and probably would have earned a sharp stab of pain for his efforts. Now holding a pile of sheets, Ruka looked from them to Evaden with a raised eyebrow, feeling ridiculous and _very_ irritated.

“What’s all this then?” he raised his arms just a little to show he was implying the sheets.

Evaden merely smirked and slithered off in another direction, waving his clawed hand casually, “Earning your keep, my little assassin. I expect those to be fresh and clean by dinnertime!” He could hear the snake laughing as he vanished into the cool shadows of the ruins, scales scraping against sandstone floor.

Ruka was _seriously_ considering killing him now.

                                  

* * *

 

 

Three days.

Three days he had been cleaning and scrubbing and acting as a damn maid by day and a sexual toy at night.

Three days and Ruka was _very_ murderous. _Very._

He finished cleaning out a set of chains that Evaden had heaped on him that morning, polishing the metal until it shone. He wasn’t sure if he should since the snake would probably use them on him later anyways, just to piss him off. It seemed that a lot of the things that Evaden did were specifically designed and thought-out so that they would piss Ruka off. He wanted so badly, at some point of the day, to just run the snake through and be done with it. Yet Ruka knew now that he couldn’t thanks to the damned piece of jewelry now dangling from his ear and tapping ever-so-gently against his throat. His invisible chains were tight, and they only became tighter the harder he struggled or fought back.

Though the logical part of him said to just endure it, to just to put up with it until he could find a way out, his pride wouldn’t stand for it. It lashed its tail from the cage it had been placed in, and it wouldn’t give up fighting no matter how many times his body or his logic gave in. His pride had an iron grip on Ruka’s mind; it drove whatever he did and refused to let anything go.

He tossed the set of fine gold chains he had been polishing aside, stretching his cramped legs out in front of him on the cool floor. He wouldn’t ever stop fighting Evaden, and somehow the snake found that incredibly entertaining, which added to Ruka’s frustration. He sighed and rubbed his neck, looking up to the small window in the room. Outside, night had already fallen, he could tell since the tiny sliver of sky that he could see had gone a deep indigo blue and the stars were winking into existence. He was sure that any moment Evaden would appear and drag him off to the bedroom, and Ruka would be in for another exhausting night of resistance and stubborn pain that the snake liked to inflict on him. It didn’t happen every night, which had surprised Ruka the first time, but it happened enough that Ruka had come to expect it.

But now he heard nothing, and that worried him a little more. He rose and shook out his legs to get proper feeling back into them before he left the room and walked up the hall. He was about to make for the oasis for a cooling dip in the water when he suddenly had a mass of fabric thrown in his face. He whipped around and found Evaden beside him, dressed in a cloak and hood over his green head, shadowing his mix-matched blue eyes. When Ruka looked at the cloth in his hands, he found it was a white-gray cloak and hood that would match Evaden’s.

“What’s this for?”

Evaden motioned for him to put it on in one fluid movement from his hand, “We are going out,” was all he said. Ruka frowned, pulling the cloak over his head and letting it rest on his shoulders, the hood covering his sandy hair when he brought it over.

“Where are we going?”

If he had replied, then Ruka didn’t hear it. Evaden led Ruka out of the ruins and into the desert, the dark blue of the sky deepening as dusk set in over the sand dunes.

                                              

* * *

 

 

It had been the first time that Evaden had brought Ruka out of the den, and on the way he made sure that Ruka knew it. He ordered Ruka not to start anything, unless Evaden gave him his leave to do so. Even speaking slightly out of term and he would make sure that Ruka paid for it later, and Ruka wanted to give him a snide comment just for that but he kept his mouth shut, might as well practice.

They soon came to what looked like a seedy bar, not a rich one where one might expect lords and ladies to be the patrons, but it wasn’t too poor to be a brawling mess or some sticky, scum-filled hole for common drunks. Ruka’s old senses started working again, watching all of the patrons as they entered through the door at Evaden’s leave. He hadn’t been able to see much of the town from when they arrived since it was dark, but he did know the general direction that they had taken to come here. At first he thought it could be a town he could use as a hiding place for a small time if he managed to escape, but those thoughts were dashed to pieces like a tidal wave when he saw the people inside the bar.

He couldn’t necessarily call them ‘people’ but Ruka wasn’t entirely sure what other kind of word to use for them. Inside were more snake-people, many appearing a lot different to one another. He saw one with thick red hair and a blood-red tail with yellow and black accents; the snake was burly and thick with muscle, and probably a few times bigger than Evaden. He had come to know that the snake people were called nagas, only because Evaden had corrected him a few times when Ruka had blatantly called him an insufferable snake-demon from hell. Ruka didn’t much care what they called themselves, they were all bastards in his mind and just calling them by an official name wasn’t going to change his opinion of them. Ruka’s eyes scanned the bar; spotting at least six, or seven; more nagas all sitting at tables in the hazy, dim light. He could see another kind of creature that he hadn’t ever seen before, it looked like a dog or a wolf, but it walked on two legs and had a face that looked nearly human aside from the long snout and ears coming from its head. He also spotted a few humans around, but all of them were slaves. He watched as a particularly scarred naga man yanked on the chains of a delicate human girl, pulling her into his lap as he laughed and drank with his companions. Ruka watched another beast-man who was playing cards with one hand while fondling a male slave who was bent over his chest with his legs on either side of one of the beast-man’s legs. 

The sexual inexplicitness of the bar usually wouldn’t bother Ruka, as long as he wasn’t being bothered he normally would turn the other way. Yet just as he was turning away he felt a tug towards a back table by a set of stairs, Evaden sat down on a large, comfortable chair and pulled Ruka to sit on his lap. Ruka resisted for a second, earning a short but sharp stab of pain from the earring. He growled a little but finally let Evaden wrap one arm around his waist and pull him to be sitting with him, ignoring the smug look from the snake as Evaden enjoyed himself by petting and stroking Ruka’s hair. It seemed that they were waiting for something; Evaden’s hooded face watching the door intently as his hand wandered over Ruka’s hair. Beneath the shadow of the hood Ruka caught the gleam of a simple golden clip, but it was the only thing that Evaden wore that was remotely flashy. Even his face paint had been taken off. The former assassin wouldn’t admit that it didn’t feel half bad; he wouldn’t _ever_ admit something like that.

A moment or so later the door opened and Ruka looked up from the spot on the wall he had been staring at so intently that he was sure he had widened it somewhat with his gaze alone. When he moved his gaze up, he was shocked by what he saw.

A woman had walked in, a real spider of a woman. Literally. Ruka had never before seen someone like her before, and he had a horrible sinking feeling in his gut at the sight of her that made him tense. He hated spiders. This woman had long legs, eight of them, and a mess of dark, luscious black hair that curled around her full breasts and wickedly sharp face. Beside him, Ruka hear Evaden snicker and grip Ruka’s hip hard enough to make the other yelp suddenly at the pain. It was a signal for the woman, who turned and spotted them and wafted over with an unnaturally smooth gait thanks to the six extra legs she had. A simple glance from her red eyes as she passed seemed to be a reciprocating answer to Evaden, before the woman swept fluidly up the stairs at their side to a room.

Evaden didn’t move for a time, content with still stroking and running his claws in Ruka’s hair. When he did move, he let Ruka off first before he tugged the other up the stairs and to a room at the end of the hallway. Ruka was equally confused when they entered into what seemed to be a small sitting room, with two worn doors slightly open to reveal a bedroom. Ruka stood as Evaden shut the door quietly behind them, waiting for the explanation that he knew Evaden would eventually supply him with. He could see the slight movement from the bedroom, signaling that the spider woman was also there, which led Ruka to feel even more uncomfortable.

He was about to speak, to ask what the hell was going on, when Evaden sat Ruka down on the small chaise and left him there. He slid over to the bedroom doors, moving in and shutting them with a soft click. Ruka was so confused that he was left staring at the doors for a moment with a bewildered look on his face. Yet who Evaden fucked wasn’t entirely his concern, nor did he really care much, but it unnerved him when it was some weird spider lady with eight legs and a look on her face that would probably make even the most primal man feel cold and jittery.

He was made to wait for what seemed like hours, with only small sounds and murmurs that came from the room, hisses and light curses that, thank heavens in Ruka’s opinion, sounded nothing like sex. Ruka leaned back on the chaise, tucking his legs beneath him, resigned to waiting like some kind of child. It got under his skin when Evaden would treat him like this, like some kind of object or toy that he could pull out when he felt like it, wave it around at everyone else, and then just toss aside when convenient. He didn’t much miss his life before, he didn’t have much of a life before anyways, but at least he had been free to change it and do as he saw fit. He didn’t like being chained, even by some invisible magic earring. He hated being unable to do what he wanted, to refuse or accept, to be denied any form of choice. He felt trapped, and he very much was, and trapping Ruka was never a good idea. It normally always ended with someone dead, or very, _very_ close to it.

He heard an angry sound from the door then, it sounded female. Then a responding hiss that sounded more like a jesting tone, it seemed like this was all some kind of convoluted, strange game to Evaden. Some moments later the woman came stomping from the room, leaving through the double doors and stopping to give Ruka an up and down look, before shoving her way out the main door. 

Evaden appeared then, stretching with a cat-like grin on his face while leaning in the doorway. He sighed and gazed at the door as if he had won some great kind of victory, which Ruka guessed he probably had. He turned his cool, mixed blue eyes to Ruka then, almost lazily.

“Be a dear and lock the door before coming to bed. We will be staying the night.” He said plainly, vanishing back into the room and laying down on the low bed.

Ruka rolled his eyes when Evaden turned his back, locking the door and walking to the room as slowly as he could, making _sure_ to take his time just to annoy the snake. Clearly it did because he heard an impatient sound from the room and felt a short twinge of dull pain in his ear, probably a signal for him to hurry up. Ruka stopped.

“Come here.” Evaden ordered, now sitting up on the bed and eyeing Ruka from the dim shadows, he had already snuffed out all of the candles and left the bedroom in darkness. 

Ruka thought about resisting more, but then Evaden grinned, “Unless you want the entire inn to know how loud I can make you moan, I suggest you come here faster.” Ruka’s pride snarled, and it showed on his face. He forced his body to move, even though he hated doing what Evaden wanted, he would hate for the entire inn to be an auditory audience to the way Evaden broke down his pride each night. He approached the bed and stopped, and Evaden wrapped him in his coils and yanked him down into the soft, albeit a little lumpy mattress.

“Mmn… good boy.” He purred next to Ruka’s ear, biting at the earring while Ruka hissed.

It was going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wheeeeew... this one took a while to get up and running! After the last chapter I had to kind of let it sink in just a little bit. Ruka is just starting to realize how trapped he really is, and he's not liking it ONE bit.
> 
> The next chapter will be up soon!! Going to work on it as soon as I can. Let me know what you all think! I love hearing from you.


	5. Storm of Punishment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: Illness, mention of non-con

Ruka dangled his legs from the top of the ruins, half of the section he was sitting on was submerged in sand and crumbled rock, so it had been easier to climb up onto. The day was oddly cloudy, and when he looked up he had a feeling that a rare desert rain would not be far behind. He sighed as a warm breeze ruffled his hair and sent the earring on his left ear dangling and tapping against the bare skin of his throat. Thanks to the lack of sun, he was glad to just be dressed in his comfortable linen pants, his feet bare as the heels tapped against the sandstone wall, sending little grains tumbling downwards.

He watched the breeze make ripples on the oasis lake and stir the leaves of the palm trees and desert grass, and for once he was nearly able to forget everything. He was able to lose himself in the peaceful part of the afternoon, but not for very long. Being an assassin had come with its own kinds of side effects, which included a very responsive set of reflexes. Ruka’s ears perked and he flinched when he heard the now familiar scrape and hiss of scales on stone and sand, his muscles prepared for movement when he saw the crest of Evaden’s head appear from the main entrance of the ruins.

He regarded the naga calmly, the way a cat would survey another predator. Evaden’s green hair and slightly pale green skin were odd, he would give him that, but not unappealing in colour. Though at the moment Ruka could only think of how much he wanted to kill the snake, he wasn’t exactly enjoying the shade of green that his hair was; he just wanted to rip it out. The mismatched blue eyes turned around, obviously looking for Ruka, _since apparently there’s nothing else for you to do other than annoy me…_ Ruka thought dryly as he stretched and lay back against the only slightly warm stone, letting his legs hang over the wall.

“I see you are hiding from me again…” Evaden’s voice came from below, Ruka didn’t move to sit up or look at him.

“If I were hiding from you, I wouldn’t be showing any part of my body,” Ruka stated plainly, his toes twitching slightly.

He heard an answering chuckle, “Indeed. What _are_ you doing then, if not hiding?”

“Keeping away from you.” Said Ruka, pulling one leg up so he could rest his heel against the edge of the ruin wall. He watched the clouds drift by overhead, trying not to plan out the snake’s murder in great and self-satisfying detail.

“You are going to have to stop having such silly notions. You will, of course, be coming with me,” Evaden spoke in an amused tone, as he always seemed to do. Ruka hated it, he hated the way Evaden looked down on him, perhaps that was why he always sought out high places in order to try and gain a reprieve from him.

Ruka let his hands settle on his stomach, “You didn’t need me last time. So why do you need me now?”

“You do not ask. You do, _Slave_ _”_ the reply was firm, and when Evaden said ‘slave’ there was a distinct tugging sensation from the earring that Ruka ignored by pressing his head to his left shoulder.

“I’m not some toy you can just wave around,” 

“You are what I say you are, and you _are_ mine, now come down,” Another tugging feeling.

“I don’t want to.”

 _“Now.”_ A slight tremor of pain and Ruka dug his nails into his palms.

“Fuck off.”

 _“Ruka.”_ The pain increased until Ruka finally winced and sat up, his pride telling him that he only sat up so that he didn’t pass out from the pain. That would have been incredibly embarrassing, not to mention it would give something else for Evaden to lord over him with. He shot the most poisonous glare at Evaden from atop the ruin, still not moving at all.

Evaden was dressed in what looked like a multicoloured sash around his waist. The main fabric was a deep purple, the edge trimmed with patterned red and gold. From his hair he had strange, flat, golden things that resembled earrings, but they had been somehow woven into his long green hair. His face paint was back on, and his expression was forever neutral, except for his eyes, which screamed annoyed impatience. Ruka’s own gaze responded with equal amounts of annoyance, accompanied by angry resentment. 

“Where are we going?” Ruka asked in a disinterested, non-enthusiastic sort of way.

Evaden merely turned and started to move off through the sand, the powerful muscles in his tail allowing him easy momentum. “That is for me to know, and you to discover, my little assassin.”

 

* * *

 

 

Some errand.

Evaden had dragged Ruka off of his perch, where he had been enjoying some time alone and doing nothing but speculating on the fact that he might be disturbed. Now he got to do pretty much the same thing, only he had Evaden for company. Ruka could hardly contain his joy.

He sat on a small plateau of desert rock, surrounded by cracking boulders and rock formations, the faces of the stone rubbed smooth from years and years of being buffeted by sandstorms and wind. He rested his chin on his palm and watched Evaden pace, or what seemed like pace. He slithered from one side of the plateau to another, and he had been doing so for an hour. It wasn’t an impatient kind of pacing, but instead it was more surveillance, watching all directions. Ruka had never felt so bored, not in a long time at least. 

After a long time, or perhaps it was short and Ruka had just been trying to hard to ignore Evaden’s pacing; Ruka looked up when Evaden stopped pacing and slid over to stand beside him. “Get up.” Ordered the naga, shooting Ruka a quick glance, and a pinch from the earring, to get him standing. The blonde rose slowly, growling softly at the mistreatment.

“Now, if you say anything out of line, if you _do_ anything that embarrasses me, you’ll sorely wish you had not. This is no _idle_ threat my little slave.” The warning came in a hushed tone as Ruka saw two figures approaching them from over the sand; he made no motion of acknowledgement to Evaden, but he did keep his mouth shut for now.

A man approached them from over the dunes and spotted them, turning an eye up at Evaden and glancing over Ruka as if he weren’t even there. The man looked human enough from a distance, but Ruka couldn’t tell much since he had a cloth around his head hiding his features. When he got closer though, he removed the cloth and smiled toothily at Evaden, Ruka saw that he was not a normal person. His hair looked more like fur, and there was a sharp, fox-like grin on his face that unnerved Ruka just a little bit. No matter what, he knew he wouldn’t ever get used to the beast-men of this world he was now immersed in. 

The man before them waved lazily as he approached, calling out to Evaden cheerfully but with no love in his tone, “Ho there, friend.” He stopped before the naga and only _then_ did he acknowledge Ruka, his strange, beady eyes looking him up and down as if he were some ornament. It made Ruka’s blood start to simmer. “Oh? A new boy? He’s a bit small from what I normally see you go for,” he suddenly moved and gripped Ruka’s wrist, twisting it up to look at him a little closer. Ruka’s reflexes made him try to pull back, but a small twinge from the earring made him stop. He allowed the other to look him over, the critical gaze making his blood boil a little more as he tried desperately not to slap him with his other hand and retrieve his now captive arm.

“Nothing too special, but I can see quality.” The man surmised, finally dropping Ruka’s arm after inspecting him. Ruka retreated a good distance from the man, nursing his pride and forcing himself not to rub at his sore wrist. “Come now my friend, lets talk business.” The fox man and Evaden moved away from Ruka, leaving him alone with the man’s slave.

The other slave was a thickly set man, large and strong looking with cold eyes that looked over Ruka the same way that the fox-man had looked at him. His skin started to crawl a little bit and he tried to ignore the looks from the other slave, his muscles all tense as stone.

They regarded one another quietly, as the two masters spoke off to the side together. Ruka caught some of their conversation, but he wasn’t that interested; it was mostly about weapons and war, about borders and requiring more fire power or something. Ruka’s eavesdropping had to stop there though, because the slave before him smirked and brought his attention back to him, “Well, don’t you look cheery.”

Ruka thought he had had a perfectly neutral expression on his face, he frowned at the slave but he found his eyebrows could go no lower. He realized then that his face had been in a perpetual grimace for the past few minutes, ever since the fox man had let go of his wrist. Ruka schooled his face back into a neutral look and raised an eyebrow at the slave, saying nothing for he had nothing to say. 

The slave was impressive, Ruka would give him that much. If his master was one for showing off how threatening his slaves could be, then this was the one to choose for it. The man had thick shoulders and a finely sculpted body, not to mention chiseled features that would make most weak at the knees, but Ruka merely just grunted a response. The man had dark hair and beady eyes, and a few scars that suggested he knew how to fight, along with an ever-present smirk on his thin lips. Altogether he looked the part of a warrior, one that easily could be one on the battlefield, and between the sheets. Ruka wondered quietly to himself, with a little bit of humor, who was the top, he or the fox man.

The slave moved closer to him, bringing him back to the present and activating his reflexes, Ruka zeroed in on the slave and every part of himself was put on high alert. He narrowed one eye in question, and instantly felt himself stiffen when a large hand came up and stroked his cheek. It would have been a romantic motion for sure, if only the slave didn’t have a look on his face that made Ruka feel like some animal on display. “Want to put on a show for the masters?” he said with a slow purr to his voice, “Mine loves it when I put on a show for him, I’m sure yours will too.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the other’s cheek, Ruka was now close enough to hear his breath.

He growled a warning, moving away only to find his back against a fallen boulder, bare skin grating against the stone. The slave only followed him, his larger form looming over Ruka. Instead of feeling fear, Ruka’s emotions went straight to his anger, which at this point was raging so hard in his mind he was surprised that he didn’t punch the slave right there.

The slave cupped his chin; tilting Ruka’s head back to look at him, “Now that’s no way to start a show. How new to this are you?” he grinned and kissed Ruka on the mouth while he pressed himself between the other’s legs. 

Ruka felt sick.

He had had enough of all of this, enough of the abuse and the berating words. All of the bruises along his skin suddenly ached at once, and his pride roared in his ears with his blood. He heard a sharp sound, though he was sure he was imagining it instead of hearing it, but he didn’t care. He may not have been able to kill Evaden, but he could kill this lowlife. Searing blood raced through him and his body moved in a smooth movement, so much so that time seemed almost to slow for a split second. 

Ruka pushed his head forward and in the same second brought up his hand. In one swift motion he brought the flat of his palm against the slave’s cheek and used all of the strength he had. The resounding ‘SLAP!’ of skin against skin was loud enough to draw the attention of the two masters, and it was also enough to knock the larger slave away from him and stumbling backwards about a foot. Ruka had also managed to bite the slave, and now had a small trickle of blood running from his mouth, coating his teeth as he spat a glob of it out on the plateau.

There was a stunned silence between all four of them; Ruka glaring at the slave now clutching his dripping lip, the fox-faced man staring in shock at the two of them, and Evaden who had a look of surprise, but of pure rage when he finally took in what had happened. Then everything happened in a blur, intense, shooting pain lanced through Ruka’s temple and he gripped his head, falling to his knees but only managing a grunt of pain as he doubled over. The fox-faced man ran to his slave, who assured him of his well being, or so Ruka thought. He couldn’t much think straight with how badly his head was hurting, he nearly wanted to scream.

“I apologize for my slave. He is still new,” Ruka could only catch a few words at a time, but the tone in Evaden’s voice was cold as ice, “I will have him properly punished in the pits, after _I_ punish him myself.” He shot a glare hard as iron at Ruka, who glared back, despite the agony coursing through his head.

“I hope so! This is appalling Evaden!” the fox-faced man shrieked, Ruka very much wanted to bite _him_ now.

“As I said, I will throw him into the pits so he can learn some proper manners. I hope we can continue to do business together.” A clawed hand wrapped around Ruka’s upper arm, the claws digging into his skin mercilessly when Evaden yanked the former assassin to his feet. The pain still throbbed in his head, and Ruka stumbled, feeling dizzy from it all, but he forced himself to stand relatively straight. Evaden hauled Ruka off, practically dragging him from the plateau and back into the desert. Overhead, Ruka could hear the rumble of thunder distantly through his screaming nerves.

They walked out of sight of the man and his slave, and the pain started to lessen a little, but Evaden’s grip remained vice-like. Ruka stumbled a little, off-balance from the rough movement. It wasn’t until they were truly away from the fox man before Evaden rounded on Ruka and slapped him clean across the face, claws leaving slight marks on his cheek. Ruka’s head was snapped to the side, and he could taste the metallic flavor of blood, he had bitten his cheek.

“I told you specifically not to do anything to embarrass me!” Evaden hissed, he didn’t shout, but his tone was deadly, “You impudent little human, you’ll regret your actions. It reflects poorly on me if you act out, and now I could lose him as a client because of your _modesty.”_

Another human would have sunk to their knees and begged for mercy, they would have cried at the slap or the pain in his ear. Another human would kiss the ground and grovel. Another human wouldn’t have slapped the other slave in the first place, and Ruka wasn’t another human, he was himself. He turned his head back to face Evaden’s wrathful expression, which now was cracking the edges of his face paint now that they were alone. He glared back, the red mark on his cheek looking angry and painful while his skin still stung from the blow. Ruka spat blood on the ground for the second time that day, and he growled like a feral cat.

 _“Modesty?_ You call that shit _modesty?_ I’ve had enough of being your fuck toy! I’ve had enough of doing what you want! I’m not an object and I’m _not_ yours!” he felt the first few drops of rain land on his skin, and he was grateful for the cool distraction. “If you think I’m going to roll over and let you hand me out to every fucking hard-on asshole that comes along, just to protect your reputation then you have another thing coming!”

His skin sang as he was slapped again, the same cheek. This time he was knocked to the ground, his ears ringing from the blow. Still, he slowly forced himself up and wiped the blood from his mouth, his bare feet and his knees scraping on the ground while he rose. 

“I warned you. Any more of this behaviour, and you will sorely regret it,” Evaden warned, “You are already going to the fighting pits for damaging another’s slave, don’t make me have to skull fuck you in public as well just to get the message through your thick head,”

“I’d rather kill you,” Ruka said dangerously, the rain starting to become a rhythmic patter as the sky darkened. The sand around them began to turn dark with water, and the wind picked up, prickling Ruka’s skin with the little grains.

Evaden merely huffed and walked along, the earring tugging Ruka and forcing him to follow, “Then you would die.”

“That would be better than spending every waking hour with _you!”_ Ruka snapped, trying as hard as he could to resist the pull of the earring.

They were close enough to the oasis now that Ruka could see the trees and the edge of the ruins. “Learn this well, human. I like a challenge and you are certainly providing one, _I_ like the way you fight back, but I cannot have you fighting others unless I give you permission. You have no free will around others, you best learn that or you will be facing a whip as opposed to just a hard cock.”

That was it.

Ruka slammed his heels into the sand and his willpower went into overdrive. It was like moving against a strong wind, or thick chains that he couldn’t see, but he used every ounce of strength that he had and he turned and fled. This surprised Evaden, who turned to face him and blinked in shock. Ruka felt the tug increase on the earring but he was already running, he had to escape; he had to force his way out even if it destroyed his sanity at this rate.

That was when the sky opened and cold rain poured from the clouds and doused the usually dry desert in a monsoon of water. Ruka ran into the desert, and Evaden was forced to retreat to the ruins of his hide away to avoid the cold. He would have to wait to find Ruka after the storm, but for now, he could only watch the rain lash the land with a million tiny knives of water.

 

* * *

 

Ruka found refuge in a small cave, though not before he had been completely drenched after wandering for hours; and to call it a cave would have been a stretch, it was more of a pile of rocks that just happened to have a hollow centre. He huddled near the far wall, and cursed his stupidity. He had run off into the storm wearing nothing but his loose pants and nothing else, now he was freezing and soaked to his core. He shivered in the back of the cave, pressing his hands beneath his arms and wincing at the icy coldness of his fingers against his side. Teeth chattering he brought his knees up to his chest in order to circulate as much heat as he could, though it wasn’t much by now.

He felt pain from the earring, but it lessened over time. Ruka wasn’t sure if this was from distance, if Evaden had gone to sleep, or if he was just becoming numb from the cold. His vision was starting to dance in front of him and he was sure his lips must have turned blue. Feeling tired, he lay down on his side, curled up in a fetal position and shivering uncontrollably and violently.

 _How stupid do you have to be to run out in the middle of a torrential rain with nothing but a pair of thin pants on? Idiot! You’re going to die out here!_ Yet it was a far stretch better than dying at the hands of his naga master. He was sure that if he lived through this, Evaden would find him and drag his frozen ass back to the ruins for punishment. Death was a better option at this point, at least in Ruka’s opinion.

 _But I don’t want to die._ A small voice in the back of his head broke through his chattering, he shook of the voice, but the words still hung around in his head. 

Ruka wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, or if he actually did fall asleep at all. He passed in and out of consciousness for hours, the throbbing in his head lessening and increasing like waves. He hugged his knees tightly to his chest, and every time he opened his eyes the light seemed to come into the cave a little differently, so he was aware that he must have been sleeping if time was passing. The rain continued on through the night and the next morning, and Ruka finally closed his eyes and slept for a few hours.

His dreams were a jumbled mess. First he dreamt about being back in town, looking for a mark that he couldn’t remember the name or face of, just that he was searching for them. That same feeling stayed with him as his mind changed to the desert, he could taste blood as he spat it out on the stone. Then he was feeling the sting of Evaden’s blows to his face, and then he felt intense pleasure as the other made him come across the bed sheets back in the den. Suddenly he was whisked off to a town of white stone that he had never seen before, he knew that because nothing looked familiar at all, not even the sky, it was green. Again he was brought back to the plateau and felt the phantom touch of the other slave to his cheek, felt the roughness of lips on his own. 

Ruka felt sick.

The last thing he saw was a green, grassy meadow. He was standing on a hill with a small house sitting on top with a thick tree beside it like an ornament on a cake, he could feel a warm breeze on his cheek and for once he felt content, even a little happy. The feeling of searching never left him though, there was something that he had lost, and had to find. He looked over the hillside until his gaze landed on a figure, bent over a patch of flowers beneath the tree. The figure had sandy blonde hair, and from what Ruka could see, was female. He suddenly wanted very much to go to her, but he found that he couldn’t move. He knew her somehow, but everything here was too fuzzy, like he was looking through a thick piece of gauze at the world.

The figure straightened her back and leaned against the tree, was it a pine or an oak? His mind wouldn’t supply him with an answer, and this puzzled him. He was about to call out to the woman, but he started to feel warm, too warm for it to be normal. A hot wind buffeted him and he winced, covering his face as if he were being burned.

When he looked again, the woman was gone and the soft green grass had been replaced with brittle, yellowish stalks. The tree looked menacing and the house behind him was in disarray, his feeling of contentment was replaced then with a horrible feeling of dread.

He felt sick.

The woman was gone, and the sun was hot and low in the orange sky. Ruka heard the creak of the door behind him and he turned. The sound was familiar, but it was familiar in the way that a thunderclap was, in the way a knife was a familiar weight in his hand. It was a horrible kind of familiar that made his stomach sink and his insides turn to writhing, hissing snakes. He turned to face the house and a figure stood over him, dark as a shadow but its face illuminated by the hot sun. It was then that he finally felt fear grip him, fear and fury all at once that engulfed him in a raging inferno of fire and smoke.

Ruka’s eyes snapped open and he turned over onto his hands and knees, his breath catching for a split second before he vomited across the cave floor.

 

* * *

 

By the time Ruka woke again, he knew he was sick. Fever had tossed him about all night long, and he couldn’t even tell how much time had passed anymore. He wasn’t sure if he had been there a day, a week, or longer. His stomach couldn’t tell him when his last meal was, because he had retched most of it up during the night. Now he laid curled up against the back of the cave, pressing his back to the wall in a vain attempt to cool his over-heated body.

His consciousness was nothing to be spoken of either, he was in and out of fever dreams more than he could count, and Ruka was sure that he must have been dying at this rate. Even his thoughts were a shattered, broken mess, and his head throbbed as if a hundred horses had trampled him.

A scraping sound alerted him faintly, and he cracked his gritty eyes open as he saw a shifting light at the blurry entrance of his hiding place. He couldn’t even bring his hand up in defense, or move his legs properly. Instead he lay there like a corpse, his body drenched in sweat and his breath shallow, he didn’t care anymore.

He lost all consciousness when he felt strong arms lift him from where he was, and he thought that for sure he must have been dead.

 

* * *

 

Ruka was jolted back into reality when he was doused with freezing cold water, his eyes opening and his body curling inwards instantly. He coughed and shook, and he swore he could feel and hear his skin sizzling from the dichotomous meeting of hot and cold. When he looked up with one half-open eye, he saw a grinning face and long green hair.

“What is wrong my little assassin? Why are you so ill?” he heard a purring voice, Ruka would have growled back at him, but Evaden poured cool water over his forehead and it almost felt rapturous as it soothed his fever.

Yet if he couldn’t growl, he still glared, “Nngh… I have no idea…” he sighed and let his body relax, there wasn’t much else he could do at this rate, he had no strength in his limbs. 

“You are lucky I found you,” Evaden went on, “You had been gone for two days, almost three. You would have died,” he poured more water onto Ruka, who hummed quietly unbeknownst to his pride. “Is the water helping to cool you down? Best tell me, I would rather not have you any sicker than you already are,”

Ruka winced when his head throbbed, managing to lift a hand to his head with a soft groan, “Gods… yeah it’s helping a bit,”

He felt the snake’s tail coil and curled around Ruka, sapping up his body heat with his strong body resting beneath the assassin, “Very well,” he moved a little and pressed something to Ruka’s mouth, when the other looked it seemed to be a kind of dark leaf. “Chew on this and do not eat it, this should help with the pain,”

Groggily stunned, Ruka opened his mouth and accepted the leaf, grimacing at the bitter flavor as he chewed on it. His head still thrummed as he leaned back against the other’s tail, too tired to really care anymore. Evaden started to stroke his hair, and he normally would have batted the snake’s hands away, but in this case it soothed his head a little and he let it continue. It had been so long since he had last been sick, and it was strange to have someone taking care of him. If dropping him in the lake and forcing a bitter weed down his throat were ‘care’ then Ruka would have to reiterate his definition of the word.

“Best spit that out now, unless you want to black out again,” Evaden instructed. Ruka nodded and spat it out onto the sand, cursing the taste while his head decided to spin and wobble about dangerously.

“Ugh… I feel like I will no matter what,”

Evaden chuckled, “The pain should have lessened significantly, I will keep you cool through the night though, just as you will keep me warm,” he lifted Ruka into his arms, still petting his hair back as they moved to the ruins.

Ruka frowned, “When did _you_ become so caring?”

“I will have you know that I am not. I would, however, like to keep you for a little longer. You are a useful body heater,” Evaden spoke matter-of-factly, he slid down the corridor in the ruins, approaching his room and laying Ruka down on the cool silk sheets. The former assassin was beyond confused at this point, but thankfully his head hurt too much for him to really care right now. Evaden coiled around Ruka again, his slightly chilled scales feeling incredibly pleasant to Ruka’s feverish skin.

“How did I know you would say that?” he leaned into the cold touch, not looking at Evaden.

Evaden shifted and relaxed into the bed, “Mmn… because I have simple wants?” he pointed out rhetorically, softly stroking the other’s cheek, his claws moving up to brush out Ruka’s messy hair.

A dry laugh escaped Ruka’s throat, “You _do_ have a soft side, you just don’t want to admit it,” he sighed at the touch. He wasn’t used to being taken care of, and his pride was still angry at the way Evaden had treated him, but somehow he felt himself loosening and settling under the snake’s rhythmic touches. His pride protested from its cage, but he quieted it, too sore and dizzy to care for now.

“Well, I would not say soft,” he could practically hear the grin in Evaden’s voice, “and you best keep that opinion to yourself if you wish to live longer. If anyone found out that you think of me as soft, then we both would be in danger,” a claw touched along the earring, the gold tip of the metal punching through flesh and hanging down Ruka’s throat. Evaden cupped the clear, bluish crystal that sparkled in the low light, regarding it calmly.

Ruka sighed, “I don’t speak much anyways, I _am_ an assassin. I know how to keep my damned mouth shut,” his eyes drooped, feeling heavy now that he finally didn’t feel like he was about to dispel his entire stomach contents again. Soon he fell asleep, his fever subsiding while Ruka curled onto his side in the snake’s scales, finding the coolness pleasant now that it was diverting his fever.

He was finally not bothered by any dreams, only sweet, pleasant silence. Ruka dropped into it like it were silk, wrapping him layer by layer, like snake coils. He wouldn’t admit it, not to anyone, but somewhere deep in his consciousness, he was glad to be taken care of for once.

Even if it was Evaden taking care of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MAN. I am so proud of this chapter, you wouldn't BELIEVE how happy I was when I finished it! I just had this stroke of good writing, one that only comes like... once a year maybe for me, where it just FLEW off the page!! 8D Thank you BlackSheep240 for beta-ing, and lending me Evaden~


	6. Stones and Heels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: None

Ruka roused himself when he felt the bed underneath him shift. He groaned quietly as he squinted, cracking his eyes open only a little to avoid the pain of sudden exposure to light. His head was still sore, but it no longer felt like it was about to burst from pain, and the earring at his ear didn’t throb as it had for the past few days. He rolled his eyes slowly to get accustomed to the light again, taking over the fuzzy, still-coming-into-focus, details of the room. 

He was back in Evaden’s room, which he was sure of. He wasn’t entirely sure how he had gotten there, his memories were blurry and he knew he would have to go over them again later and sort them. Ruka moved his hands and toes first, attempting to check his mobility. Finding he could move relatively well, he slowly worked over his muscles and joints until he could sit up, slowly of course. When he did, his head felt wobbly but he was able to keep upright and not collapse like he had in the cave. He didn’t feel as feverish, though he did feel warmer than usual, and he was thankful for the relief from all the pain. When he did notice his surrounding fully, he had to blink in order to fully take in what was going on.

Evaden was curled all over him, his cool scales sapping the heat from his body like a sponge. The green patterned tail coiled here and there, moving ever so slightly as the naga slept, his head cushioned near Ruka’s on a soft-looking silk pillow. His clawed hand had been resting on Ruka’s head, and now that he had moved was now resting at his back. Ruka’s eyes searched over the snake curiously, wondering why he was still asleep. Usually when Ruka woke, Evaden was already up, making sure that the former assassin wouldn’t make a run for it. Yet here he was, fast asleep (or so Ruka thought) and curled around Ruka like some lazy house cat. Ruka’s brow knitted into a frown, but it was more curious than anything else. 

Running his tongue along his teeth then, Ruka suddenly became very aware of how thirsty he was. It hit him like a wave out of nowhere and he coughed, his throat so much like dried leaves that he half expected to start spewing them. He searched around for a way off the bed, out of the snake’s coils, but his eyes fell on something nearby. A small canteen was looped around one of the bedposts near Ruka’s head, and when he lifted it Ruka found that it was full of liquid. Nearly jumping up, he snatched the canteen down from the post and opened it, letting some of the contents drip out onto his palm. It was water. 

He drank long and deep, practically draining the canteen though he saved some for later. Once his thirst was sated, Ruka laid back against the bed, and the coils, to catch his breath. Only now that he was quenched of thirst did his stomach then realize that it was completely empty, aside from a canteen of water. He felt a wave of nausea rush over him, but he merely accounted it to a deprived stomach and a sudden onslaught of water. He pressed a palm to his forehead and groaned quietly, waiting for the sickness to abate again.

That was when he felt a gentle touch to his hair and he looked up, to find a sleepy, sly grin looking back at him from the silk pillows. “I see you are awake,” said Evaden with a sleepy, languid stretch, “is your illness gone?”

Ruka flinched, but it wasn’t as noticeable. He leaned away from Evaden, but only managed to lean into the snake’s tail instead. Still holding the canteen in his hand he set it down in his lap, “I’m fine, just thirsty,”

“Hungry as well, from the sounds your stomach is making,” Evaden’s hand stroked down to his abdomen and Ruka moved away, putting his knees up to his chest to keep away Evaden’s hands.

“I guess, but I don’t want to test it right now,” he frowned and looked at Evaden, “I wouldn’t try anything when I’m like this, if I were you,”

Evaden chuckled and sat up, his coils still wrapping and moving around Ruka continuously as he did. “My assassin, if you were me then you would understand how hard it is to resist you,” he purred the words playfully as he slipped from the bed, his tail finally unwrapping from Ruka and leaving him alone on the bed, “but, for now I will. You have time to rest and recover before your punishment fight, it may be for punishment but I still want you in peak condition,”

The former assassin frowned, “You’re still going to send me into a fight? I thought getting horribly sick was enough?” 

“Not to the public it is not, you have much still to learn of the world you now live in, my slave.” Evaden waved his hand casually, disappearing through the door of the room and leaving Ruka to himself.

He stretched out his legs and lay back on the bed, thankful now to have time to himself. Ruka still felt sleepy, his muscles stiff but his stomach still delicate. He turned onto his side and tucked one of the many silken cushions under his head, pressing the seam of it against the crease of his neck and his shoulder. The cool fabric was comfortable to his skin, and he allowed his eyes to droop shut for the time being while he thought. He went through his broken, fuzzy fever memories, sorting them as best he could. The dream he ignored, for that’s all it was, a fever dream. Other memories were more important, like how he had offended the fox-man-creature by hitting, and biting, his slave. Fighting in a brawling arena wasn’t so bad, at least in Ruka’s opinion. He knew how to fight, even enjoyed it, so he didn’t see exactly how it was a punishment. Perhaps Evaden was just hoping he would get a black eye and some cracked ribs; Ruka had to smirk at that, the snake was sure in for a surprise if that was the case.

He always had been a quick healer, so a few days of rest was enough time for him to heal. Ruka pulled up the thin blanket at his feet, pressing his nose to it and letting his body relax again in order to sleep. The last memory he sorted before he managed to pass out was foggy; it was the sensation of being lifted off the ground in the cave and brought out. He had been sure that Evaden would have just dragged his sick ass home, before tossing him into the oasis lake. Instead he had carried him, like a child. Ruka wasn’t too sure how he felt about that, whether it was an insult or something else.

Deciding not to bother questioning it any further, Ruka let the memory fade back into the back of his mind. He curled onto his side and fell asleep; figuring that any kind of answer he could come up with would just bother him more.

  

* * *

 

When Ruka had finally healed, Evaden hauled him off to the town for his ‘punishment’ fight. Evaden didn’t want him fighting in the real arena, despite Ruka’s affirmations that he could hold his own. It was apparently meant to be a punishment, not a day out. Unfortunately.

Ruka hadn’t been out of the den since the meeting with the other slave and master, and he hadn’t been into the town since Evaden had met the spider woman. Ruka was at least glad to be out, he had been stuck inside healing for days and now he finally got a breath of air. Even if it was going to town to supposedly get his ass kicked, he couldn’t wait.

They passed dunes and crags along the way, the sand draping over the land like a slow-moving sea. Ruka thought of the fever dream he had had, of the pleasant green hill and the tree atop it. Grass that green was hard to find, and even harder to keep that way. Many went their entire lives without seeing a meadow like that, but somehow Ruka had a feeling that the dream had been more of a memory. It had that same, familiar feeling that was strange and yet comforting. He shook himself to dislodge the thought, walking along behind Evaden as they started to approach the town. 

When the two of them arrived, it turned out to be much further south than Ruka had traveled before. The heat washed over him, and he was glad for the white hood and short cloak Evaden had given him. As they entered the town, or city now that he saw it, Ruka saw humans walking around on the ends of chains, and some not since they had apparently been well trained. Evaden explained it to him lightly, almost dismissively. Ruka even saw some humans without collars, either being their own masters, or in similar situations to his own, though apparently that was rare. It was a world where one walked the razor’s edge, a slave could work or kill his way up in the hierarchy, just as a master could fall and end up a lowly slave. 

The city had no walls, it was large and became denser the further in they went. Greenery surrounded small pools that flowed from the city, but it was much like the oasis around Evaden’s desert hideout and not like the grass from Ruka’s dream. The buildings were made from carved stone, rising at least three stories above them with fenced balconies and large archways. They reminded Ruka of wide ribs almost, and in some of the homes he could see through to the center courtyards, others were completely engulfed with trees or desert flowers and grass. Ahead of them stood a tall, dark building that seemed to rise up out of the sea of manors and houses like a ship. Unlike the residential homes, this building was made from a dark stone, and looked a little more menacing. Evaden told Ruka that it was the arena, where many of the nobility brought their slaves to test their abilities and showcase their strength. It was also where people were put if they broke the laws, used as a different kind of punishment, as issued by the nobility. Evaden pointedly made it clear that Ruka wouldn’t be fighting there, not until he supposedly ‘earned’ the right to do so. Ruka only rolled his eyes at this and followed suit. They twisted and turned through the busy streets of the sunlit city, entering a smaller section near one of the borders of the sands that appeared to be slightly poorer than the rest.

They arrived at a main square, and Ruka saw more slaves. Many dressed differently than he was; some were dressed with leathers that bound tightly to their bodies and made Ruka feel uncomfortable when he looked at them, others were dressed in practically transparent silks that displayed their bodies. Some only wore gold and gems, chains made to be seen and admired, not pulled. Many, in fact, were dressed to accentuate their sexual uses, which bothered Ruka. He even saw a few masters bent over their slaves, rutting with them in plain, public daylight. Most passed them by, giving them no notice, though some stopped by to watch. Ruka was glad that Evaden was not the latter. Normally he could have turned a blind eye, slaves weren’t uncommon in the human communities, but it was harder to look when he was one.

Evaden had already wandered his way down towards a smaller-looking arena: an amphitheater that was sunken into the ground below them, flanked by tall buildings that appeared to be shops and taverns. Ruka could see people sitting in the stands: nagas, beast people, spiders, and slaves. The sandy pit at the center of the theatre held two slaves at the moment, Ruka craned his neck to see what they were doing.

One slave had another in a locked hold with his arm, trying to hold him down to the ground. The other slave struggled vainly against the dominant one to break his hold, trying to gain purchase on the sandy ground with his feet. The slaves were barely clad, mostly wearing loincloths or thin pants, nothing else. Ruka watched as the slave pinned the other beneath him and a referee called an end to the fight. As Ruka watched, the two slaves separated and their masters approached them, one mooning over his slave and checking for wounds, another just nodding and sending him to the seats. Ruka watched then as two more slaves stepped into the ring, a call went up and those two started to fight. From there, Ruka started to understand the basic rules of the pit: pin your opponent down; keep them down for a few seconds, no blood drawn and no sex. He watched calmly when Evaden sat him down near the bottom of the theatre, close so that he could send Ruka out whenever he felt like it –or so Ruka thought. 

They watched through a few other fights, Ruka’s eyes calm and collected in the din of the crowd. He could hear other masters and attendees shouting bets, calling out foul play and so forth, all while two slaves would beat the living daylights out of one another for their entertainment. Ruka had never taken part in pit fighting before, but he had done his fair share of fighting; so when a match was called and Evaden pushed Ruka to his feet, the former assassin wasn’t fazed in the least.

He was handed off to a servant, one of many who seemed to patrol the crowds looking for masters with fighting slaves. Then lead down the stone steps and into the shallow, sandy arena. Ruka’s bare feet patted softly on the ground, but the sound was lost in the mutters and chatter of the crowd as they beheld their next source of entertainment. Ruka stepped out into the center of the ring, his stance calm and his expression unreadable, but within he was ready and rearing like a horse, chomping at the bit. 

When his opponent appeared in front of him, Ruka’s eyes locked onto him and didn’t stray. He finally had a focus, something to unleash all this fury within him that had accumulated throughout the past few weeks. Had it truly been weeks since Evaden had captured him? It felt like months when he thought about it, and he didn’t like thinking about it. Living beneath another’s thumb, suppressed like a dog on a chain and treated as an object; it had driven Ruka nearly to madness, and only now was he realizing it. Only now did he see how much he had been holding back, how much he had bottled up inside because he wasn’t allowed to show it, wasn’t allowed to fight back. But instead, here he was told to fight. He grinned wickedly. If Evaden thought this was punishment, then he was dead wrong.

It was a _reward._

The first thing Ruka noticed was his opponent’s size, he had been carefully selected from the crowd’s selection of slaves to match Ruka’s. The man before him was taller, but just as lean as Ruka, with a slight beard and a few scars here and there, and a smile that was only fuel on his funeral pyre. Yet a voice nagged at him, telling him that he wasn’t allowed to kill here. It was a lucky break for the man standing opposite Ruka, but a slim one.

As soon as the referee called for the fight to begin, Ruka readied himself. The man before him waited too, and they both assessed one another from safe distances. Ruka’s eyes were hard with focus, as was every single muscle in his body. His foot twisted a little in the sand for purchase, the most minimal of motions.

Suddenly his opponent flew at him, trying to land the first punch to Ruka’s face. The former assassin wanted to groan, it was always the obvious first shot: go for the face and end the fight quickly by knocking them out. He ducked and leaned forward, his body arching underneath the man’s wide swing as Ruka grabbed him about the middle and twisted so that he was behind him. The man stumbled as Ruka used his leg to send him off-balance, moving swiftly so he was at the man’s back.

Yet the man had seen it coming and he stepped to regain ground, as well as looping an arm around Ruka’s neck and bringing him up short. The man tried then to force Ruka to the ground by applying weight to his neck and shoulders, but he was met with a solid wall of muscle. Ruka slammed his weight back into the man, using his elbow he forced it into the man’s ribs sharply once, twice, three times before the man let go with a gasp. Ruka had felt a crack beneath his elbow, knowing then that he had at least fractured a rib or two. He twisted a leg around and punched the man in the neck, drawing a choked sound from him. Ruka then used both hands and clapped them harshly on either side of his opponent’s ears, both dislocating his jaw and probably making his ears ring.

In the heat of the fight, Ruka had only one focus. That was to defeat the man before him in order to win, anything beyond that was of little concern to him at that second. The blood rushed through him and he moved as gracefully as a dancer would, each punch and attack a carefully calculated move that fell into a dance over the sand of the arena. The crowd still hollered and cat-called, but that noise fell away to a muffled burble in Ruka’s ears.

With his opponent momentarily stunned, choking, and probably unable to feel his jaw, Ruka used his last attack and thrust a solid fist forward and upwards into the man’s core. He felt another significant crack as he broke the ribs he had already fractured, and he grinned. Swinging his leg around in a smooth arch, Ruka kicked the man in the same place and sent him backwards and into the ground with a thud. The man was bleeding from the mouth, but other than that there were no other wounds except the internal ones that he would be cursing Ruka for later.

The former assassin straightened and stood, and the referee called an end to the fight and declared Ruka the winner. Yet all Ruka heard was the blood in his ears, feeling the overwhelming satisfaction of overcoming an enemy wash over him. It was heady and enticing, and he reveled in it for a short moment. He could enjoy this, a simple fight where rules made sense and they weren’t governed by strange magic or odd restrictions. It was where he could let loose, where he could let the animal out for a few short moments. His pride swelled when the roar of the crowd came back to him, and it held its head high with him when he saw the ever so slightly shocked expression on Evaden’s normally blank face in the crowd. 

It hadn’t been a punishment at all. They looked at each other through the sea of people, Ruka meeting Evaden’s eyes equally and without any fear. Ruka lived for these fights, and he made sure that Evaden knew that if it weren’t for the earring, Evaden would have a serious challenge on his hands. The thought pleased Ruka, and he reveled in his tiny victory for that short moment, because afterwards he would be a slave again. Afterwards, he would have no power.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow! I wasn't expecting such wonderful feedback on this story! Thank you everyone!!! I love to read comments, and I swear I've nearly cried a few times! Thank you so much! I'm happy the characters are believable, and that they're popular, though it seems Evaden has a bigger amount of followers... Ruka will need to remedy that, haha! 
> 
> Thank you again, everyone! For your comments and views! The next chapter will be up soon xD
> 
> And thank you @blacksheep240 for being my beta!! Evaden is your baby and I'm hoping I do him justice!!!


	7. Sharp Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: Coarse/Offensive language, mention of public/forced sex.

 

Ruka woke to the now familiar sound of scraping scale on sandstone, he nearly groaned at the signal of Evaden’s return, but he didn’t. He had gone to sleep before sundown since Evaden hadn’t been there, he had gone out earlier that day and Ruka hadn’t seen him since. Now he could hear the snake’s return and he groggily tried to ignore it, though it was hard to ignore when he felt the bed dip and the pillow shift, before he felt the cool press of scale and skin slither around his body as Evaden nuzzled into Ruka’s warmer skin.

He shifted in his sleep, lifting one eyelid to look back at the snake coiled around him, “Really? It’s not like I’m a stuffed toy,” he hissed softly, though he was slowly growing used to it, his pride stubbornly wanted nothing more than to shove that scaled body off.

“Mmn, you are, now that you are mine,” Evaden snickered, putting his lips against Ruka’s tanned skin as he hummed happily at the warmth next to him. “You also need more hugs. Look at you, you seem so grouchy,” he purred with his fangs gently scraping against Ruka’s throat, though not biting. 

The former assassin huffed at the other’s words, skin starting to warm but he ignored it, “You know, if I get poisoned it’s your fault.” He moved again and rested his head back against the nest once more. His longer, sandy hair spilled over his shoulders.

Evaden smirked, “Do not worry, I am always careful with my things,” he said as he looked up into Ruka’s face. Ruka just met his gaze with a frown, confused as to why the snake was acting like an idiot. “What do you say to going into town sometime soon? I wish to treat you to an outing after that fight you had.” He tilted his head away from the touch, but that only made Evaden’s grin widen more as he ran a clawed hand down Ruka’s stomach. Ever since the fight that was supposed to be his punishment, Evaden hadn’t left Ruka alone for so much as a few hours let alone what he had given him today. It had been a relief, but now that he was back, Ruka was steadily growing annoyed. Then again when was he _not_ annoyed, such a surprise. 

He sighed, “I’m not a _thing_. I’m a _person,_ snake. Also, what kind of ‘outing’ would this be? Some other kind of messed-up fight, or something? I thought I couldn’t leave,” He tried to get comfortable in the coils, moving his legs and shoulders until he could actually feel a little more at ease, though that was an understatement when it came to being around Evaden.

A huff of warm air clouded against Ruka’s neck, a claw coming up to tap the gold piece of Ruka’s earring where it punched through his ear. “So long as I want, you can go anywhere you like with my permission, for you belong to me now, Ruka,” his smirk widened, “I may even let you go back to that dreary human settlement until I really need you now and then,” Ruka watched as the face paint on the other’s cheeks started to crack and flake now that he was back in his den and showing emotions. The blond noticed only a little of the paint, but paid it no mind when Evaden mentioned home. He didn’t react outwardly, but Ruka felt a tiny, dull feeling in his chest that he ignored promptly. He stretched a little, his pride finally understanding that it wouldn’t get out of the coils right now, so he settled where he was. 

“Where would we be going?” 

Evaden hummed, his tongue licking at Ruka’s skin before nibbling at the dip in his collarbone, though not using his fangs this time but his slightly duller teeth. “Just to the market, I want to get you a bit of a haircut and proper slave clothing,” he nuzzled down to Ruka’s abdomen in a matter of seconds, green tail tip moving to press to the former assassin’s back and making him arch just a little from the feeling. It also earned the snake a change of breath and a short growl of protest as he tried to get comfortable again, despite Evaden’s slowly emerging idea otherwise.

“Well as long as it’s not something awful,” Ruka tried to turn the conversation around, if what they were doing was actually _having_ a conversation.

“Mmn, indeed; you don’t get any say in what I put you in really. The owners here like to showcase their wealth by showing off their slaves, even more when you refer to the snakes of the north. They all have more than one heater to dress up, so if all of them are dressed to impress it shows that the master has a lot of wealth,” he explained, “and I refuse to look bad in front of my clients when I take you on jobs. I may one day need you do so something for me, and I need you looking your finest,” said Evaden, his lips moving against the other’s chest now while his coils rolled the both of them around so that the snake was on top of Ruka.

Without meaning to, Ruka’s breath caught and he silenced himself with a bite to his cheek. His body shifted and he pushed back, trying to move away, “As long as it doesn’t look ridiculous. I wont wear anything ridiculous, and I sure as hell won’t make it easy for you if you do,” he huffed.

The snake’s grin against Ruka’s skin increased, starting to tease Ruka’s nipples until they perked, the claws marking lines down the former assassin’s sides. “Nothing too outlandish, but something sensual that shows off this delightful body of yours, my little assassin,” Evaden purred sensually, and Ruka ignored the fact that he felt a small tingle run up his skin from where Evaden was clawing at his skin lightly and teasingly.

His muscles shuddered without his consent and Ruka kept his gaze away from Evaden while he spoke, yet when the snake pulled away he glanced up at him confusion. “Well that’s new, you never stop once you’ve started. What’s wrong? You haven’t kept your hands off of me since we got back from that fight, having problems?” He felt the tail wrap around his legs, pressing up between them even more teasingly than before. 

“I am just pondering how long it will take until you beg me to fuck you, that is all,” he winked at Ruka. The words made Ruka snarl angrily, baring his teeth just a little at the way Evaden spoke.

“That will be a while, you know that! Never, if I have anything to say about it,” he shifted his body, trying to squirm away from the snake’s attentions but unable to push away the strong tail. “And I’m not little!” He didn’t want this again; he wanted nothing more than to punch Evaden and run off to some secluded part of the ruins and lock the door. He hated being treated like some snake enslaver’s sex toy that he could just use whenever he wanted; of course he wasn’t going to beg! Ruka glared at Evaden when the snake didn’t stop his attentions, and the former assassin hissed.

Yet, despite all of his verbal and mental protests, Ruka found his body slowly betraying him. Heat pooled in his abdomen, not all at once, but slowly. His body reacted to the attention, the soft stroking to his abdomen while the tail teased between his legs. The strange feel of the scales against his skin made Ruka regret the fact that he hadn’t put his clothes back on when Evaden had left that afternoon. He let out a staggered breath, but bit his lip to prevent any further sound from escaping.

“Mmn… what was that, my assassin? I could not hear you over the sound of you begging,” said Evaden, moving over to press a kiss soundlessly against Ruka’s mouth. It was rough and hard, one meant to fuel the human’s lust and anger more than anything else. Ruka’s body arched against his command, and he forced down a moan when the tail squeezed just a little too right. He protested and tried to keep a control, though it was gradually slipping thanks to his body’s sense of priority.

It was going to be another long night.

 

* * *

 

The next morning had them up bright and early, so that they wouldn’t be traveling over the desert when it was at its hottest. Ruka and Evaden got to the city when the sun had barely reached its zenith, and Ruka was starting to feel a little less stiff thanks to the long walk. He followed behind Evaden as they wove through the streets of bustling merchants, masters, and slaves. They had wandered into a part of the city that had streets lined mostly with shops, but what was displayed was not what Ruka would have expected for a regular market.

Where a normal market would have sold fabrics, clothes, food and so-on, this market was different. Instead, when he looked at the displays, Ruka saw clothes that looked too thin to be meant for anything but a slave. He saw racks of leather outfits that would display a ‘heater’ as Evaden called him sometimes, in some of the most sexually provocative ways Ruka could imagine, and probably many he could not. He saw stalls and shops set up to sell sex toys and decorative chains, collars in every kind of metal and colour. There were other shops that he recognized as piercing parlors and grooming boutiques, as well as other beauty stores. He also saw one stall that was showing odd little bottles of what looked like oils, but he watched a naga master buy one for his pet, a small, dark-haired youth. He watched the master tilt the boy’s head up, the youth flushing immensely as he did, and trickle some of the substance into the slave’s mouth, before stoppering it and leading the boy away. When Ruka frowned, he thought fervently on this until it dawned on him: the merchant was selling some kind of aphrodisiac.

Ruka was immensely thankful when Evaden did not even give the stall a second glance as they continued through the market, probably heading towards a different destination.

They entered a high-end boutique, and thanks to the blasted earring, Ruka had no choice but to follow as of now. Ruka saw that it was a clothing shop, and he watched as Evaden hissed while admiring the many different undergarments and clothes hanging off of the racks, draped on mannequins, or lining shelves. The store catered to both male and female, and Ruka cringed at the thought of what he could be made to wear once they left this place.

There came a shuffle from the back as a female naga slithered into view, noticing Ruka and Evaden she grinned that same, snake-like grin, “Well hello sir! Welcome, welcome! Was there anything in particular you were searching for?” she approached them and looked Ruka up and down like he was some kind of accessory. “Such a precious creature this one is. He has an amazing body, but such an effeminate face, and smooth skin… ksss,” the woman’s eyes fluttered faintly, as though she were overcome with arousal just from looking Ruka over. The former assassin made to pull away, feeling even more uncomfortable here than he ever had with Evaden. 

The store keeper flicked a clawed finger under Ruka’s chin to tilt his head up, “You could go either way with this one, really: some very frilly lingerie to show off those delicate features, the curves and soft skin. Or a leather codpiece, that would display his muscles and make him look much more masculine.”

From the looks of it, Evaden was already looking at what he wanted, and he wasn’t paying the female much mind. His face paint was fresh since the night before, and it didn’t crack or flake at all as Evaden kept a stony, unresponsive face. The only way Ruka was able to tell what he was thinking, or get an inkling of it, was to look carefully at his eyes. The male snake turned after a few moments to the store keeper, “I will be getting him some every day outfits, as well as a few more… _showy_ ones,” he motioned to a few, “I will also take a look around, do you have anything that will match this?” he gripped Ruka’s hair to tilt his head, though his claws weren’t harsh, they weren’t gentle either. He showed the woman the blue-ish gem on the earring that dangled from Ruka’s ear, the stone glinting softly in the light from outside.

The woman peered at the stone, running one claw down the human’s jaw just below it, “Oh yes, we have some lovely jackets and other clothes in the back. As for ‘showy’, we keep the more crowd-pleasing items in the front,” she said it with a wink to Ruka that made his stomach sink like a hard piece of sandstone. No one seemed to notice the sour look on his face, or if they did they didn’t care. The store keeper brought out a pair of pale blue, frilly panties and held them up for Evaden to inspect, “These, for example, would look wonderful on your heater!” She held them up to Ruka’s body as well, and he had to resist the urge to slap her hand, and the ridiculous garment, away. When she didn’t get a rise out of Evaden, she sighed and turned around, “Very well, give me a shout if you need something!” she waved over her shoulder before slithering away to take care of something else as they browsed, Ruka was glad she was gone.

He waited until she was out of earshot, before he growled under his breath to Evaden, “You put me in something frilly, and you’re going to find it burned the next time you come home.” He spoke as flatly as possible, keeping his voice low.

He saw the glint of humor in Evaden’s eyes, yet it seemed the woman was not, in fact, out of range of his comment. She turned and cocked her brow and folded both arms, albeit a little playfully, “Such a rude little thing!” she hissed, looking to Evaden as if Ruka had personally offended her which, in some way, he did. “Are you going to discipline him, or do I need to do it myself?” She came right up to Ruka, staring him down when she was merely inches from his face. Ruka recoiled and leaned backwards, his mouth twitching in the ghost of a grimace. No one in the human world would have _dared_ threaten him because no one in the human world would ever try to cross blades, or in this case, panties, with him, not if they expected to live to see the next sunrise that is.

Evaden only turned his cool eyes on the woman, the humor masked with irritation, “I think not. He is my new toy, and I will do as I please when it comes to disciplining him” he waved her off, “Now run along now, I have shopping to do.”

Once she had left, however, Evaden leaned close to Ruka and gave him a cold stare, “If I _do_ find them burned, you will be _ingesting_ them,” he said softly.

Not ready to be out-done, Ruka glared back with a horrible grimace, “I’ve eaten worse.” Though he said it with a light lilt in his tone, he decided that he could have a little fun of his own, despite being on the end of some invisible leash.

This amused Evaden for his eyes sparked once, “Just go pick out some things you like and I will pick out the rest, I need you looking your best for what I have planned tomorrow,” he pushed Ruka lightly by the small of his back towards the rear of the store, letting him roam, for now.

Ruka huffed, “You may want to warn her that if she intends on ‘attending’ me, or helping herself, that I have reflexes that are often… difficult to control. So if she would like to not end up in a very strong choke hold, then refrain from surprising me.” 

“I wonder what you could have devoured that was worse than scorched panties…” Ruka rolled his eyes, and with that he marched off into the store. He didn’t want to know what Evaden meant by ‘plans for tomorrow’, it made his stomach twist further around the sandstone just thinking about it.

He browsed idly for a while, but found nothing really to his liking aside from a pair of airy white pants and a comfortable new cloak for traveling, one that was tastefully trimmed at the edges with gold embroidery. After a time he returned to the counter where Evaden was waiting, and received an armful of what appeared to be leather clothes. Ruka looked up with a scathing, but confused look on his face.

“Go put on your new clothes while I pay, would you, dearest?” Evaden said mockingly, watching as Ruka reluctantly stepped away to put them on.

“I swear… I am going to make your life _miserable_ when we get home,” he growled as he went to get changed, “Maybe a few new _windows_ in the den.”

Evaden ignored him and went to pay, though Ruka caught the glint of laughter in the snake’s gaze. When he dressed, Ruka found that the clothes were much like what he had seen outside on the other slaves, especially the bulky ones. Leather shorts that were open at the hips, and held together by buckled straps. They hugged Ruka’s rear tightly, shaping and conforming to him like a second skin. There was a front pouch to neatly contain a heater’s cock, and it included a pair of high boots that came to his knees and, despite the slight heel, still looked quite rugged. The ‘shirt’ that came with it wasn’t really a shirt at all, but rather a series of beautiful golden chains held together by a golden collar that looped around Ruka’s neck and settled at his collarbone. Attached to the collar also dangled a matching gemstone that went with his earring, and the shirt jingled noisily when he put it on, or so much as moved a finger.

Ruka hated it.

They left the store after they had paid, Ruka sulking behind Evaden by three steps with his arms crossed over his chest. He could barely move in the outfit, it wasn’t at all aerodynamic and he would have a hard time moving to react in any kind of defensive way. He hated being handicapped with this, but the dangling earring at his ear made him pause before considering just tearing the clothes into shreds.

It didn’t stop him from running his mouth though, “You’ll regret this… I swear it.”

He saw the twitch of a smirk at Evaden’s mouth, “It is in style. Need to keep up with the date after all, I cannot have you looking like some decrepit human now can I? I have a reputation to uphold.” he glanced over his shoulder, “and uncross your arms, you are acting like a child.” He said it playfully, his tail lightly hitting the other’s heel as if he would trip the former assassin into his coils if he did not obey.

Ruka ignored this, but he did lower his arms, “Where are we going next?”

“Next is to get your hair cut. Tell me what you would like, for they will ask me what to do with it,” said Evaden, his hand coming up to softly stroke Ruka’s hair and pull it out of the ponytail. Ruka now noticed that they had stopped outside of what appeared to be a barbershop, but none like any he had ever seen, though it merely looked like a regular stone building.

“I like it long. Not too short. It keeps my neck from burning,” he wasn’t sure how exactly to react to Evaden’s sudden attention to his wants and appearance, it was throwing him off. He had some inkling that there was some great big punch-line coming, one that he would have to be prepared for, so he remained tense as they walked into the shop. They entered the parlor, Evaden leading Ruka with a gesture. Ruka glanced around at the chairs and tables, and various bottles of hair dyes and oils. He would have declared the place completely normal, until the hairdresser emerged from the back room. He had to pause, for his skin began to crawl at the sight of her.

She was a spider, or half of one. Her body was that of a beautiful woman, her long dark hair was wavy and fell past her hips, and her lips were lush and red. Yet she had eight spidery legs instead of two regular ones, and it made Ruka inwardly cringe just a little. He hated spiders, and now he had to deal with one, a giant one, to be precise. 

She smirked when Evaden appeared and went up to him, “Oh, Evaden! Such a pleasure to see you back, are you here for a trim?” she asked, placing a hand on Evaden’s shoulder and leaning up to press a kiss to his cheek, avoiding the face paint. Ruka wondered why she was able to get that close to Evaden without the snake hissing, or spitting at her. The only one he could get close to was Ruka, and Ruka couldn’t really help that. It was odd, and Ruka didn’t like it. 

“Not for me today, Jaz. My heater here needs a trim, though not too short,” he thoughtfully held up Ruka’s hair, “Just covering the neck would be lovely,”

When he had said it was for Ruka, Jaz turned to Ruka as if he hadn’t even been there before. She gave him a once-over, taking in Ruka’s appearance and making him feel even more uncomfortable as she got closer. “A pretty thing you have, lets get to the chair, sweetheart.” She ordered, pushing him, none too lightly, to the chair and made Ruka sit. When he did, the leather of his clothes creaked like wood and made him wince. Soon enough, she started to brush Ruka’s hair, one of her many legs holding the brush as she searched a nearby table for scissors and other items that she would need for cutting hair. Ruka was glad that she didn’t have many mirrors, and that he wasn’t facing one. He could barely handle looking at her face-on, watching her brush through his hair from behind would be too much.

After a time, she spoke again, “You should know, Evaden, that Abel has been sniffing around for you. He is not pleased that you have most of his staff under your thumb,” the hidden laugh in her voice reached Ruka’s ears, and he looked at Evaden in question. He muttered a short ‘ow’ when she pulled too hard, “Who is Abel?” Behind him, Jaz started to snip his hair. She threw Evaden an odd look when Ruka talked, though Ruka only felt her do it since she paused in her cutting.

Evaden smiled, “Abel is another naga, one of the only ones that doesn’t seem to care how much dirt I have on him; though he doesn’t appreciate my stealing of his servants. He is an ever growing pain in my side,”

“Odd, Evaden…” Jaz spoke wistfully while resuming snipping, “I thought you would be the type of master that would rather have his heater’s lips sealed, what with what you do and all,” she leaned around to stare into Ruka’s face, sliding a finger gently across Ruka’s lips with a menacing grin on her face, showing slightly pointed canines. Ruka had to swallow his bile, and his remark that was growing in his throat.

“It turns out I like the feisty ones,” Evaden shrugged, watching as Jaz finished cutting Ruka’s hair shorter. She brushed it out and tied it back up with a flourish, the spindly legs finally leaving Ruka’s head.

“Well, you know us spiders, males are the weaker sex. We _are_ most skilled when it comes to threads and silks,” she purred, voice husky. “Now, you know how my payment is done, Evaden,”

He couldn’t hold back the remark, it just spilled out; Ruka snarled, “I’m not weak! I’ll defend myself if I have too! Besides, I bet I’m better with knives than you are.” He wished he had a knife or two on him, he knew he couldn’t kill or wound her, but he could perform a little in a way that he could probably impress even this stuck-up arachnid.

Pain erupted across Ruka’s cheek as Jaz slapped him, her face cold as stone, “Watch what you say human, if you were mine I would have closed that mouth of yours with my own silks,” she shot a glare at Evaden, who was collecting Ruka with a firm grip to the upper arm, “Get out of my shop.”

Evaden bowed his head to her, eyes chilly, “My apologies, I will take care of him later,” one of his coils then wrapped around Ruka tightly and dragged him out of the shop. Once he was out, he dropped Ruka and ignored him, though the human could feel the anger coming off of him in waves. Evaden pulled out a sandstone brick from the nearby wall and removed a small scroll on the inside, replacing it with a bag of silvers before leading Ruka away. 

“Never, and I mean _never,_ threaten another without my permission. It is not your place, you only attack when I tell you to, and you do not speak out to others unless they are other slaves,” he looked disapprovingly to Ruka, who merely blinked back at him in confusion, “You have made me look bad in front of her, and now I need to repay her at a later date for your rudeness,” 

Ruka frowned, “I didn’t threaten her… I was going to explain that I could do knife tricks. I used to perform on the streets when I was younger. I thought that could improve her view on males, though I doubt it would work,” he rubbed his cheek sorely, “I guess my idea of humor isn’t very funny here, but I wouldn’t threaten someone like her,” 

He saw the tension in Evaden ease just a bit, anger slowly rolling off when he heard the whole store, “…Be careful. She took it badly and now I need to get on her good side again,” shaking his head, Evaden sighed, “Why would you not threaten her? Some form of chivalry?” they started to move along the market again towards an open plaza with a tall, glistening fountain. The air was cooler here, and it soothed Ruka’s skin a little after being in the tight, awkward leather.

“No, I just don’t like spiders.” He shrugged, “Others don’t seem to like my kind of humor, then again no one laughed at my jokes when I was in the assassination business either. It may have had something to do with my dagger to their throats, but I’m not sure,” he fidgeted in the clothing, wishing desperately to take it off.

Evaden noticed this and, with a huff of laughter at the other’s words, he handed Ruka a bag, “Alright, you can change. The cotton clothes are in here, better for the trek home,”

Ruka frowned, “Then why did you parade me around in these if you were going to make me change anyways? I’m not changing out here in the open if that’s what you think!” he snatched the bag, rooting through it to find the soft, embroidered cloak and the light pants. “What is all of this for anyways?” 

“Later, though I cannot believe you are shy about your body, my little assassin. Many here have seen worse than a naked human getting changed,” Evaden trilled lightly, keeping his voice mostly level while out in public. “Why just this afternoon I saw one master fucking his slave with a—”

“Alright! I’ll just change over here! Just shut up!” Ruka stormed to an alleyway near the fountain plaza, ducking into the shadows to change. 

He had to struggle with the shorts, they had practically fused to his body in the heat, and he had to tug and yank them to shimmy out of each leg. The chain-shirt was easier, though it made an awful jingling noise that he could have definitely done without. The boots came off next and he stuffed all of the clothing into the bag, glad to be rid of them for now. He would have to light a fire when he returned to the den, most-likely the next morning when Evaden was still asleep. Ruka grinned devilishly at the thought.

When Ruka returned to Evaden, another Naga was approaching him. He had long black hair and a muscular build, and dark eyes that made Evaden’s look like ice when they stood before one another. The other naga was slightly bigger than Evaden, but Evaden didn’t look intimidated in the slightest. Actually he didn’t look much of anything, his face was a stone-blank sheet.

“Would you look at who’s come out of the desert, boys!” the naga had three other heaters with him, each more leather-clad than the next, and all looking stupid as posts. The only thing they had going for them was their looks, and even if Ruka had a say, they didn’t look like much to look at. “If it isn’t Evaden himself, what are you doing skulking around here?”

Evaden raised one eyebrow nonchalantly, “If it is not Abel, taking his pets for a walk,” he held tall and Ruka noticed the chill in his voice, layered with masked aloofness and sour sugar, “I am out shopping, taking care of my own heater. Though we are leaving now,” he tilted his head so that the gold disks he wore in the front clinked together musically with his mockingly sweet voice, “How is your family? Your brother I mean, last I heard he was doing well in the Burj Almiah, moving up in the ranks. It is a shame you are not so capable, is it not?” Ruka could see that he was prodding the man, but somehow Ruka felt that not to be a good idea. 

Abel didn’t seem to react, if he had been affected by the words, he didn’t show it to Evaden, “Only _one_ heater?” He looked to Ruka as he stopped beside Evaden, “Such a little thing, and here I was thinking you had taken to imagining friends for yourself. I wouldn’t be surprised, seeing as you live in the desert. It must go to your head, the heat,” he tapped his temple.

Ruka’s gaze fell onto one of the biggest of the slaves behind Abel, looking him over with his eyes. He was bulky and muscled, but not as well-toned as Ruka. He had a stupid expression of amusement on his face, one that Ruka felt he very much wanted to kick off.

“All I need is one,” Evaden remarked, “for he is of the highest quality,” he spoke slowly, stroking Ruka’s hair almost affectionately. Ruka resisted the urge to pull away, he didn’t want to get in the middle of all of this.

“That’s not what I heard. I heard from a shop keeper that he talks back, and that you barely have him under control,” He looked Ruka up and down, a look that Ruka was getting increasingly sick of by now, “Some say, no control at all. He doesn’t even look like much, more like a roadside whore than a high-class heater,” the snake’s slaves all snickered at his words, and Ruka felt rage build in his chest.

Evaden sighed, as if this were merely playful banter and his pet assassin wasn’t starting to boil, “My, my, word travels fast. As you can see there is no control problem. Now, be gone, and try to do better? Your brother has already excelled in his field, I would hate to see you stumble and fall behind because of petty rivalries.” Something in his voice made Ruka believe that Evaden would love nothing better than to see Abel trip and fall on his face, that satisfied him a little.

“Really? Coming from one who’s slave is out of control? Are you the one he fucks? Or is it just some ruse to disguise the fact that he only fucks animals like himself and refuses to let you have him?” Abel was fishing now, but the words were striking anger in Ruka that, even with Evaden’s words, was starting to overrun itself. He held himself tense, his hands balled into fists and his jaw grinding on itself, unable to attack but unable to keep control for much longer either.

He watched a slow smirk creep gently across Evaden’s face, not cracking his paint at all, “You _would_ consider that, only because my slave is more a man than you,” he hissed his amusement, “But no, my little assassin does not get a leg over me, but I him. Now if that is all you wish to say, then I think I will be off,” he tilted his head, “Come, Ruka.”

Ruka had to breathe slowly, his arms shaking with the effort of holding back. He had had enough of this world, of this day. He had had nothing but insults and remarks thrown at him that, in the human world, would have been pretense enough for him to murder something, but not here. Here, his chains were tight, and he forced the fury seething in his body downwards, forcing himself to begin to follow Evaden.

“Then _prove_ it.”

This froze Ruka in his tracks, his heart pounding. His mind raced through the memories, seeing masters shoving their slaves down onto a public bench, or decorative wall, and doing all kinds of private things to them. Another memory came up, slow and dull, but still painful. He saw a dark room and felt large hands on his head, the smell of beer and sweat, and the laughter of a group of men. Ruka had to shove those back into his mind as his eyes darted from Abel to Evaden.

That was when a small hissing sound came from Abel’s direction, and seconds later a rock collided with Ruka’s eye. He yelped and spun around, his good eye searching for the thrower. The former assassin’s eyes fell onto one of the slaves, who’s arm was falling back to his side. Ruka saw him smirk and that was the end of it, his willpower and ability to hold back unchecked rage only had so much strength. Faster than Evaden could react, the human cleared the space between them with two bounds, leapt into the air and landed a hard kick to the slave’s head. He returned nimbly to the ground, blood welling up above his eye and trickling down his cheek.

“You want to insult me more? Go ahead and run your mouth,” Ruka snarled, “And I’ll rip your throat out and use it for floss.”

He had no idea what he had done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so flattered by all the praise! Thank you everyone for your comments and everything, really it's so amazing to have an original work praised as much as you all are praising Desert Butterfly! I'm so honoured <3
> 
> I'm going on a small hiatus for a few days, but after that the next chapter will be under way! Make note: chapter eight will be INTENSE. I guarantee it!


	8. Blood on the Sand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: forced oral sex, blowjobs, extreme violence.

 

The tension in the air was almost tangible. Ruka felt the electricity sparking between the two nagas, concentrating and focusing onto himself as he stood looking at them both. Ruka saw the dark, uncontrollable rage in Evaden’s eyes as he stared down the human. The blond frowned, shrugging his shoulders in confusion. It was mere seconds before he felt the tight grip of Evaden’s claws in his hair, yanking him away.

“Apologies, but it would seem that you have trouble controlling your slaves as well, Abel. Next offence from them and I will see them,” he looked pointedly at the one who threw the rock at Ruka, “in the arena pits.” His eyes were cold, but Ruka couldn’t see much past the yanking to his hair. He could, however, see the reactions of the people surrounding them. They had all noticed the drama happening, and Ruka could hear them whispering. Apparently they hadn’t seen, or only a few had seen, the other slave throw the rock. They had mostly seen him kick the other slave, but Ruka didn’t really care, he had been able to let off some steam and that was enough for him.

Evaden had clearly seen the onlookers as well, he turned and barked at them, “Go on with your day. This business is over,” he spoke evenly while still keeping a tight grip on Ruka’s hair, pulling him closer to himself at the same time. Ruka hissed and winced at the yank to his shorter ponytail, the bruise forming above his eyes reddening and throbbing annoyingly. The former assassin shot a glare to Evaden, but then back at the other slaves. He smirked with a small sensation of satisfaction when he saw the other slave picking himself up from the ground, rubbing the whole side of his face and his jaw.

It wasn’t long before Abel turned on them, “This isn’t over Evaden. That slave of yours is out of control, and you need to teach him a lesson. _Now.”_ He snarled, giving the snake a dark look. 

“Momentarily. Though yours seems to need a lesson or two as well, he cast the first stone after all,” Evaden’s voice was slow, as if he were talking to a child. He brought Ruka to the side of the plaza, keeping to the shade as he forced Ruka to his knees while pressing him against his snake half. With a tilt to his chin, Ruka’s head was brought upwards and he was made to look at Evaden, “Ruka, suck me off.” He spoke simply, as if it were merely a time-out for a misbehaving child.

Every ounce of Ruka’s being froze. His eyes widened a little bit, “What? After all of that?” he snarled, suddenly feeling the eyes of everyone in the plaza on him, which he wouldn’t put it past them. He felt a small stab of fear in his chest, but he swallowed it down the moment he felt a lighter touch to his hair and chin, Evaden brushing some of his hair away.

“Yes, after all of that,” a clawed hand pushed through his hair and brought Ruka’s face against his abdomen, “Do this and move on, Ruka,” Evaden glanced up as his fingers touched the earring dangling from the human’s ear. Almost instantly, Ruka felt a twinge in his gut that came, unwelcome, from the earring. His hazel eyes flared and he looked up defiantly to Evaden, but he had to pause. The other had a slight expression in his eyes that Ruka found he had never seen before, one he couldn’t identify. Evaden’s hand became a little gentler, though it did not allow Ruka to escape.

“Do this, and the sooner you finish the sooner I can take a look at your eye,” Evaden said under his breath, making sure Ruka was the only one to hear him. The assassin felt the pressure of the hand affirming the snake’s words on the back of his neck once again, the twinge of pleasure in the earring increasing just a little more. 

Ruka hissed, every part of him resisting this, even with the hints of pleasure starting to cloud him. “F-fine…”

Slowly, almost hesitantly, he kissed at the other’s length. He felt the eyes on his back the way a condemned man would as he approached the chopping block. Ruka’s hands gripped at Evaden’s hips, and though no one else could see them, he knew they were shaking. A hole had opened up in his chest, and the former assassin couldn’t stop it from expanding. He forced it down with a swallow, his throat contracting around Evaden’s length, as he took more in. Some people stopped to watch, some continued on with their day, the eyes made Ruka’s head feel like it was burning.

For once, Ruka did as he was told. Sucking a little harder, he looked completely uncomfortable. His eyes flashed and his body was tense as a board, and for once he looked nervous. He dragged teeth over the sensitive flesh of Evaden’s length, coaxing him to arousal as his own body shifted with the pleasure from the earring. He could hear Evaden huff a small moan above him, but other than that he kept silent. The snake started to thrust forward into Ruka’s mouth, tangling his hands into his hair. It made Ruka want to clench his hands, but somehow his reflexes were slow to react and he couldn’t get them to do it. He worked mechanically, pressing his tongue to the slit in the tip and bobbing his head. His own length twitched in response, but Ruka ignored it and kept going. His body felt stiff and shaky, and he wasn’t able to control himself properly. Even his lips shook, and suddenly he was transported back, somewhere else. 

He wasn’t in the plaza anymore; he was in a small, wooden room with faint candlelight. The smell of beer, and the stink of cloying sweat in the air. Ruka’s hair felt wet, but he knew it couldn’t be, and he was in a similar position; on his knees with his face pressed somewhere he did not want it to be. Amid the faint murmurings of the crowd, he thought he could hear the sound of laughter. Ruka was unable to tell, for a few moments, whether or not he was in the memory or in the present.

It was a moment before he heard Evaden snarl, but it wasn’t towards Ruka, “Unless you wish to lose your slaves to me for damaging what is mine, I demand you punish your own slave for his wrong doings. Or I will make good on my word, and send him, and perhaps all of them, to the arena,” Ruka glanced to the side, noticing that Abel had only crossed his arms to laugh at them and watch, but he seemed caught off-guard when Evaden barked at him. Ruka felt a slight flush coming to his cheeks, but not from embarrassment, and he looked worriedly at the people watching them.

He felt a slightly gentle hand in his hair, one that was still firm and demanding, but he seemed to be trying to bring Ruka back from wherever his mind had gone. They didn’t make eye contact, but the human knew he was looking at him. 

“Fine, but honestly Evaden, that slave of yours seems very poorly trained,” a few snickers from the crowd, “He’s barely getting a reaction from you!” The moment the words left Abel, Ruka’s eyes flashed. Taking on a new expression, Ruka paused and glanced to the side.

It was a challenge.

Ruka growled a little and found his head clearing, despite the power of the earring muddling him. It was like being submersed in cold water, his body waking up from his flashback and settling into the present. He sucked harder, breath catching a little and tongue pressing to the underside as he brought one hand up to, albeit stiffly, stroke Evaden and bring him further from his sheathe. He heard a moan above him, and the hips before him thrust a little harder. Ruka brought his hand away, brushing the softer scales of the snake’s underbelly, the hand wrapping around to press against Evaden’s own entrance. It was out of sight of the onlookers, but he earned a slightly louder groan, followed by a warning hiss. Evaden’s hand pulled Ruka’s away by the wrist, all the while thrusting deeper into the human’s mouth.

He winced but moved faster anyways, fingers returning back to where they were and pressing a little deeper. He wanted this over; he wanted those memories back in their dark corners where they belonged. Ruka strove to out-do whatever the other slave was doing to Abel, though he could not see them from where he was. There were faint noises of pleasure, but Ruka ignored them promptly.

Another warning hiss, but this one was a little less vigorous than before. The snake thrust faster, his hands tightening in Ruka’s hair as he sought his end. Ruka sucked once more, hard, on the tip. Afterwards, it was seconds until Evaden came, filling Ruka’s mouth and forcing him to swallow every drop.

“Ah, keep your slaves on a shorter leash, or next time I see them it will be in the arena,” Evaden relinquished his hand on Ruka’s hair and brought the former assassin to his feet. Ruka was led away with him, stumbling and still recovering but holding a good face until they were well out of sight of the crowd. His mind was broken into pieces now, the adrenaline of a challenge wearing off by the time they made it to the outskirts of the city. Realizing that he hadn’t seen it all pass by since the plaza, Ruka blinked and looked about in shock as he saw dunes and scraggy grass amongst the rocks of the sand.

They were well away from the city when Evaden rounded on Ruka, by now the former assassin was used to beatings and he flinched. Yet cool hands came up to his face, one pushing back his hair on his forehead, the other tilting Ruka’s head to the side. Evaden examined the welt now perfectly formed on his eyebrow, a slight trickle of blood beading down to the crease in Ruka’s eye. Swiping away the blood with his thumb, Evaden inspected the rest of the wound.

Feeling like a wary animal, Ruka tensed and allowed the handling, though he wasn’t sure why Evaden was suddenly so worried about him. He eventually yanked himself away, but not before he shook himself and frowned, “What the hell, what was all of that?” 

Evaden’s paint mask had cracked at the edges when his brows creased, “When you attacked another slave, I had to punish you,” a smile cracked his mask further, “Next time wait for my order before you attack, no matter your rage,” he spoke softly and continued on through the sand.

It took a moment for the naga to realize that he didn’t have his slave following him, and he turned around to look at Ruka pointedly. By now it was dusk, the sun settled over the countryside and the stars winking into existence overhead. Ruka buried his feet in the sand, a troubled frown still settled on his face. His adrenaline was gone, and his thoughts needed organizing, but Ruka could not seem to get them into focus. All he could see in his head, all he could smell or feel, was that damned memory. It continued to surface like a body in a river, a very unwanted one. In his head he felt the wet of his hair, the touch of many, sweaty hands on his body as he was rocked about. The faint memory of pain in his lower back and his neck made him rub slowly at the nape of his neck, and he didn’t realize that his other hand was clenched in a tight, trembling fist. 

“Ruka.” The bark of his name yanked Ruka’s attention back, and he focused his eyes back up onto Evaden, who was standing in front of him again. 

“What?” 

“We must make it back before it gets too cold, unless you would like to drag me home,” he smirked, and Ruka grimaced back at him. He brought his legs up and started to walk, now with new motivation to get back to the ruins. The sound of scales on sand signaled to Ruka that Evaden was following, even before he felt the touch to his back. “You are lucky,” the snake wrapped himself around Ruka’s body, lifting him up into his arms and carrying Ruka over his shoulder with his legs wrapped around Evaden’s waist, their chests close together, “that his slave attacked first. If you would have done that without the cast stone, I would have had to put you in the arena again. The big one this time,” he held Ruka close with gentle hands, and the human huffed while he rolled his eyes. 

“I could take it, you know that now. I do know how to fight,” he didn’t like being carried, but if it kept the snake warm until they got home, and if it let him avoid dragging his sorry, scaly ass, then he’d put up with it. Those pesky memories still sifted around his head, making him more quiet than usual. Feeling very unwelcome to talking, Ruka had a seal on his sharp remarks, only bringing them up when he had too.

They remained in silence for the rest of the journey back, Ruka shifting in the snake’s arms as they walked. Or rather, as he was carried. The desert that went by around them all looked the same, at least to Ruka. He almost didn’t notice again when they reached the ruins and the oasis again, Evaden heading straight down into the caves and sunken halls to his room. As they got closer, Evaden set Ruka down and stroked his hair, “Why not be a dear and fetch some meat from the bottom room? We can cook inside, I think you have earned a meal for performing so beautifully today,” he slithered off to the room, and Ruka narrowed his eye at him. Instead of protesting, his pride would tell him he was too tired, he just got the meat. Hauling up a flank of some obscene, hooved animal, he came back to find that Evaden had built a fire in the pit in his room, one that Ruka had not noticed before. He even had a spit waiting over the fire, waiting for the meat that Ruka handed to the snake before looking about for somewhere to sit.

“There is something bothering you, my assassin,” Evaden pointed out, spearing the meat and starting it roasting over the hot fire. Within minutes it was cooking, and the melting fat was dropping, sizzling, into the fire and onto the wood below. “Was it how Able managed to goad you into working harder? You are so sensitive, my Ruka,”

Ruka’s eyes flashed, but it was the only real reaction he would give Evaden. He wouldn’t be able to stave off the snake, not if he wanted a response. That, or the naga would somehow find a way to finish what they had started in the plaza, and Ruka didn’t much like that idea when he was already still sorting through all that had happened, he needed time.

“It brought back unpleasant memories,” he sat down beside Evaden on the only other pillow available, or so his pride would admit.

He heard a snort of amusement, “Must have been bad, especially for you to react like you are,” Evaden turned the spit, getting the fire to hiss and spit, “Tell me. After all, who else do you have to talk too, the sands?”

He leaned back against the rock, only to find his back and the wall blocked by Evaden’s tail. Ruka paused, a cold look on his face, but he crossed his arms and shrugged, “…bastard got me to do the same in front of all his buddies, then decided to finish the job while they all poured their drinks on my head,”

“Who did?”

There was another silence, a long one that stretched into minutes and almost led to Evaden prodding Ruka to get an answer. It actually did lead him to nudge Ruka with his tail, but the blond barely reacted, too buried in his thoughts to really care. His eyes were trained on the fire, a dark, cold look on his face that could have easily frightened someone else.

“Ruka?” his voice called Ruka out once again, and the assassin’s head snapped to face him. “Who did?” Evaden continued his further question.

The hole that had opened in his chest, now tightened at the edges, solidifying itself in Ruka’s consciousness. “My father.”

If Ruka could say the look in Evaden’s eyes wasn’t satisfying, he would have been lying. The expression was faint, and if Ruka had not been with Evaden as long as he had, it would have been lost on him. He was coming to recognize the small hints; the tiny changes in the ways that Evaden would act that signaled an emotion or situation change. If anything it could have been the mere atmosphere that tipped Ruka off that things had altered, but for now it was a twitch in his eyelids that gave the naga away for a split second. 

“Odd,” he finally replied, “I did not know that humans allowed family to have sexual relations,” turning the meat again, Evaden averted his gaze in order to, or so Ruka thought, to process this new information.

Ruka laughed a cold, dry laugh that sounded more hollow than anything he had ever made before, “Yeah, well it’s not exactly normal for a father to fuck his son. Especially as a punishment for a bad dream, then to pass him around to his buddies for laughs,”

“So you are used to being taken against your will?” a nod answered the question, “You were scared, I am sure,” 

A wicked smile passed Ruka’s face, and it looked more like a grimace as his nose and the corner of his mouth twitched. He almost bared his teeth, “You kidding? The whole time I imagined how I could kill each and every one of them, in _great_ detail.” The minimal turn of Evaden’s head gave Ruka a sickly-sweet taste in his mouth, the grimace widening, “I imagined each one, and I went through with it one day. I gave that bastard everything he deserved, and his corpse will rot forever if I have anything to say about it.” It took Ruka a moment to pause and realize something, “Why are you asking this?” 

Snickering cynically, Evaden shook his head, “I ask for simple reasons. The man who was your father sounds like an ass, not that I am doing different but I at least make sure that you feel… pleasure,” a spark twitched in Ruka’s gut, running straight from the earring as Evaden threw a look at him, “And I ask because I believe that is what friends do, is it not?” 

Ruka stared at Evaden incredulously, saying nothing about it for now. He shook it off and leaned forward onto his knees while he tucked them to his chest, “Believe me, if you were doing anything my father did, I would have killed you with, or without, the earring.”

“’Would have’?”

“You know what I mean,” Ruka growled.

“Do I?”

The snake was just toying with him now, “Yes, you do,”

“Good to know, but you would really kill yourself like that? After all, if I die, you die,” he pets the other’s hair, pulling it from its ponytail, playing with the strands. A moment later his attention was back to the meat, “The outside is done, if you want to have at it,” Evaden reached over to peel off a strip of the meat, holding it between two clawed fingers up for Ruka to take.

Ruka took the piece in his hand, nibbling at it, “Honestly, I’m not afraid to die. I don’t see the reason though, to fret over it. I would rather _not_ die yet, however, if I don’t have too,” Ruka sighed, “What about you?” 

“Me?” Evaden continued petting Ruka’s hair with a clean hand, his other digging into the roasted meat to get to the raw stuff beneath, swallowing it whole. “Death, I do not care for. As long as I can keep away from it, I shall. I do not wish to die,”

He was used to it by now, the hands in his hair. Ruka didn’t even bother to move away anymore, putting up with it more than anything. “Well, I don’t think anyone really _wants_ to die. Unless they’ve hit rock bottom,” he ate a few more strips of meat, not caring if some of it was a little raw. 

“True,” smiled Evaden, “I sometimes put people there.”

“I’m not surprised,” Ruka felt a grin tugging at his mouth, despite his willpower ordering it not too.

There was a silence as the two of them ate, Ruka only having a few more strips before feeling his stomach was finished. He watched the fire for a time before Evaden shifted, regaining Ruka’s attention. “What happened to your father?”

“I killed him,” it was so casual that Ruka almost dismissed the words himself, and they had come from his own mouth. “He got what he deserved, and I killed him before he got to my sister,”

Evaden’s eyes lit up, “A sister? You have a sister? You do not talk about her much, did she die too?”

“No,” quietly, “But she is better off away from me. My father threatened that he would do something to her if I fought back, and one day I was stronger than he was. That’s that,” 

An arm wrapped around his waist and Ruka was pulled against Evaden, the snake nuzzling into his hair with a sigh. It wasn’t affectionate, nor was it comforting, but it wasn’t as provocative as it usually was when Evaden had him this close. The snake stroked at Ruka’s sides, claws brushing his skin as the naga watched the fire with Ruka. “Where is she now?” Evaden’s question made Ruka’s eyes roll to the side, brought away from the fire.

“I have an idea,” he leaned back into the coils, the scales rubbing his back through the light cloak. The realization that he hadn’t taken off the cloak came over Ruka and he squirmed out of the naga’s hold to take it off, tossing the cloak onto one of the cushions on the floor nearby. “I would rather not see her though, I don’t want her to have anything to do with me,” when Evaden gave him a ‘how come’ expression, Ruka went on with his words, “I have enemies, and I want her to have a good life. I went through what I did with my father to protect her, so I’m not about to ruin it now. My problems aren’t hers, and I won’t bring them down on her head. I would rather she just forget about me,” observing that he had been talking too much, Ruka shut his mouth promptly, earning a smile beside him.

Shaking his head, the snake returned his arm around Ruka, “Is it so bad for her to know she has a brother who loves her? Does she not possess the knowledge to make that choice herself?” he knew he was right, Ruka could see it in his smirk.

With an incline to his head, “Why so nosey about my past? I didn’t think you cared,”

“I may not care much, but I am no monster,” Evaden matched his tilt to his jaw, “What you choose to do with that information is yours to make, but I would advise you to keep it to yourself. If you wish to live, that is.” The fire was burning low by now, most of the meat picked clean by the two of them, Evaden mostly. The heat of the room was pleasant, especially with the cool of the desert night outside the walls.

Suddenly the scales behind him were gone, and Evaden was moving to curl up in the pillows on the bed. His tail slithered up to drape all over the bed, the green dark in the dim, dying light of the fire. Ruka watched him go, feeling strangely colder now that the ridged scales were not at his back, the sensation bothered him and he shivered, wrapping arms around himself to shake it off. After a time, the former assassin rose and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting a moment or so before he leaned back and lay down against the coils. They wrapped around his body in seconds, pulling Ruka to the snake and making him grunt in silent protest. He convinced his pride that he was only doing so, and allowing it, because the snake had taken most of the good spots on the bed, and that he didn’t want to sleep on the floor like some dog. His pride would have it no other way, so he convinced it as such. 

Ruka watched the dying, glowing embers with drooping eyes. Allowing his mind to go blank, the day slowly fading into the back of his mind as he fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

“And here I was, thinking you were having fun without me,” the voice from behind him caused Ruka to look up, turning his head around to face the open door, and the snake leaning in a languish sprawl against the doorframe.

Ruka caught his breath after a moment or two, wiping the sweat from his brow and straightening out of his bent position. He wore only his light, white linen pants, his upper body slick with a thin layer of sweat. Hair pulled back in a small ponytail, a long and dull pole in his hands while a practice dummy lay sprawled on the ground. Ruka shifted the pole so that it was upright as well, one hand resting on it while the other hung loosely at his side. “Fun? What do you mean?”

A huff followed from Evaden, but he didn’t answer the question, “Keeping your skills up?” he nodded to the dummy, along with two more that were in similar positions of disarray on the floor. Ruka nodded without a response, or rather, the nod was his response. Evaden moved to rest on a bench nearby that was carved out of the thick sandstone that made the wall, his green tail curling about himself. “Please, do not stop on my account. I just may let you into the pits after all, if you impress me that is,”

“I thought I already had?” Ruka said, when he only got a cocky look back from the snake he shook his head, “You’re impossible. I’m nearly finished anyways, so do what you will.” Going about the room, he righted the dummies and took up a position between all three, flipping the pole in his hands in one fluid motion. Cat-like grace following his movements, his focus completely on the dolls in front of him now, his breath steadying in his chest. A change had come over him as the focus started to deepen and his vision narrowed, until all he could see were the dummies before him. With one step, two, and three, he moved around the dolls in an almost dance-like pattern. He hit each one where there could be vitals on both human, and snake alike, his arms a blur with the pole. The muscles in his back and arms worked flawlessly, each doing their part to take his weight and carry it to the next motion. He barely registered the fact that Evaden was in the room, he merely focused on the vitals before him, vitals that would probably mean death if the dummies were live. Within mere seconds the dummies were all down again, and he paused to right them once more, barely a break in his breathing than when he had started. 

There was a pause when Ruka finished three more rounds of exercises, each faster than the last until Ruka’s hair was crested with sweat and his nostrils flared. Once he made to stop, Evaden clapped his hands together, “Would you like to go into town and try your hand in a fight?”

Setting the pole against one wall, Ruka frowned, “You just want to throw me into the arena, don’t you?” he shot a challenging glance at Evaden.

“It is why I bought all the new clothes for you. That first match was impressive; I want to see how you would fare in the real arena. Besides,” it was seconds before Ruka noticed the other had risen and coiled about his legs, arms wrapping around his body, “I think you _want_ to go.” The cool scales against his now hot skin was a little pleasant, Ruka wouldn’t lie to himself, but he certainly wouldn’t let his naga master know he thought that. Not in a million years.

The smirk on Evaden’s lips was so close that Ruka could have kissed him if he inclined his head far enough, “Do you, my little slave? Do you wish to go and fight someone? To get rid of all that excess anger?” the soothing, honey-sweet tone was so close now that Ruka could feel the breath against his throat, even as the snake nuzzled into it.

“I’m not little,” he said after a time, “and I would like to, but how come you want me to fight? Hoping that I’ll die?”

“Well, well… someone is a little prickly today, or is it every day you are like this? I think it is, somehow it is almost charming,” Evaden winked at Ruka, “I would like to bet on you, and reap the money since you are a formidable fighter. The questions that you need to answer for me are as follows: when? And is it battle to the death, or to fuck?” the smirk was almost unbearable now, as if he knew exactly which one Ruka would pick. 

He narrowed his eyes, “The prior, snake. Honestly… you see an opportunity in everything it seems,”

“Only when it comes to my money.”

 

* * *

 

The next day was the first pit fight. Evaden explained it all on the way to the arena: Ruka was to be given a single weapon upon arrival, no more and no less. He was to fight and kill three convicted criminals, the audience and the arena heads didn’t care how he killed them, just that they die. Ruka nodded calmly to all of this, also given the knowledge that the other convicts were allowed to kill him, as a ‘fairness’ rule. As he approached the tall, dark shadow that was the arena, Ruka felt a stirring in his gut that made his shoulders and muscles tense. It wasn’t nerves, it was something else, and he squirreled that feeling away for when he would need it.

When they arrived in the arena, Ruka was handed over to a pair of slaves that soundlessly led him away and into the lower rooms and cells of the arena. Some of the rooms were merely slightly secluded alcoves, built the edges of the arena and fit with simple windows in the walls, containing a washbasin and a single, cushioned bench. The cells, however, were far more gruesome. Ruka passed a few as he was led up the rise in the floor; in the cells he could see people at the end of their ropes, some grimy and half-alive, others more desperate, and each looking worse than the last. It stunk, the cell area where they kept the convicts. It smelled of sweat, urine, and a number of other things that made Ruka’s nose curl. The air was thick with it, and slightly smoky, whereas on the outskirts where the paid and privileged fighters and slaves were it smelled lightly of rosewater. As Ruka passed, he ignored the whistles, the jibes and catcalls he got about his looks, amongst other crude things shouted, or even displayed, towards him. 

Instead he just focused on the doors before him, one of the slaves pressing something into his palm before scooting backwards into the dim light. He was shoved into the arena all-too-roughly by a guard standing on the inside of the doors. As Ruka watched them open, the latticework causing the light from the sun to dapple and pool inside onto his face, until they were wide open and he was moved into the sandy pit.

Ruka looked down at what had been shoved into his hand, it was a slightly rusty dagger. The polished part of the blade glinted up at him, and though it wasn’t the best weapon he had ever possessed, Ruka smiled at it the way one might smile at an old friend or a favourite dog. He let his fingers caress the worn leather that wound tightly around its handle, and he even lightly dug his fingers into the rust-dusted hilt where it met the blade.

A weapon. He had been given a weapon.

He didn’t have long to revel in this, though, for his opponents were also being shoved into the arena, one-by-one. He spotted each one in turn, the way a wolf would eye up a morsel of food it was about to devour. The last time he was in an arena, he had only been told to fight with his fists, and not to kill. He savored the crowd’s naïveté for a few seconds as he sized up his opponents. 

They were three in number, one being a large man who was more of a bull than a man, but more on the small-side of bull. Another was a tall slave with lean muscles that appeared similar to Ruka’s, but he didn’t look nearly as practiced as the former assassin. The third was, unexpectedly, a naga slave, his long hair dangling around his collar and mid-back. Each had been armed with a similar weapon, and each had been given the same task: kill all three and you’ll be rewarded.

Ruka drank in the hush of the crowd as it settled around the arena, the weight of it tantalizingly tense. There was a pressure in the air that made it nearly electric, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention to it. He breathed a calm, deep sigh as they waited for the signal to start. Each of the doors they had entered through began to close, painfully slowly. The creaking wood and metal of the hinges grated on Ruka, who was like a horse chomping at the bit to get started. All of this, however, he hid from his outer display. He remained motionless and calm, his eyes calculative and hard. The sounds of the doors were the only sound in the arena, apart from his own breath that he could hear in his ears, and they slammed shut with a mighty boom. Standing in the center of the arena, with the full weight of the crowd’s attention on him and the other three, Ruka had never felt so at home.

A fourth man approached them, wearing an armband around his left arm that signaled to them that he wasn’t to be harmed. He lifted a white scarf between them all, held between two fingers. It fluttered in the slight breeze, or was that from the breath of the quieted crowd? The silence reached a peak, almost reaching a strange humming in Ruka’s ears.

In seconds the scarf was brought down in an arc, signaling the start of the fight.

The crowd’s silence broke and overflowed like a dam, erupting into cheers.

Instantly, Ruka’s eyes trained upon his nearest opponent: the bull man. The man whistled, much like the convicts in the cells beneath the arena, and stalked forward to Ruka. Meanwhile the other two focused on one another, Ruka had to deal with the arrogant smile on the man’s face instead.

“I’m going to have you on a cracker, you’re so fine,” laughed the man, a hand coming up to cup his groin area as he said it. Ruka, however, showed no reaction whatsoever. “What? Nothing to say, gorgeous?” When Ruka still didn’t respond, the man made a lunge for him.

He had been waiting for it, and Ruka ducked out of the way. His knife a flash of cold metal in the sunlight as he cut first at the inside of the legs just behind the knee and severing tendons, sending the man buckling backwards and then forwards onto his knees in the sand. Blood spattered out from the wounds but Ruka paid it no mind, except to avoid getting it on his clothing. Before the man could properly hit the ground though, Ruka was behind him with one fluid step. The assassin brought his knife down and across the man’s lower spine, stepping away as he did while blood spat from the deep cut. Even those spectators in the lower rows of the audience could see a flicker of the white of the man’s spine, including Evaden. Ruka smirked and shoved the man to the sand with a dull thud, watching him collapse in a bloody puddle that soaked into the dusty sand. 

The lanky man was the second to fall, Ruka running at him as he turned to face him. The assassin jammed his knife into his belly and twisted, but it didn’t end there. Ruka was up close to the man, using him as a body shield incase the naga slave tried to sneak up on him. Ruka met the lanky man’s gaze as he caught a desperate fist that was aimed at his temple. He gave the men a savage, wicked grin as he then wrenched the dagger upwards with a horrible crunch and a sickening slurp of flesh and bone. The movement split up the man’s belly and mid-chest, spilling his guts as he died. Ruka spun as he did to avoid the blood as best he could, dragging his dagger out at the same time to face his last adversary.

This one would be tricky, and Ruka stalked around him warily as he assessed the situation with lightning-fast, trained reflexes. He faced the naga, who had been trying to sneak around him and the lanky man, and he feinted to the right. He then sprinted forward and jabbed his weapon into the sternum, earning a short and choked gasp that sounded more like a wet gurgle. He flipped about and, in that movement, grabbed hold of two thick strands of the naga’s long hair. This time he left the knife embedded in his opponent, and instead he crossed and twisted the hair about the naga’s throat and stuck his knee into the small of his back. The naga’s eyes bulged in shock as Ruka choked the breath out of him, with his own hair. With a snarl, Ruka gave one last yank on the hair and the man’s breath stopped, just as his spine gave a short, but loud, snap. The body fell away limply as Ruka retrieved his dagger, no more than a few flecks of blood on his pants, and only a little more on his bare torso.

His hair had come out of its tie, if only a little bit. Ruka’s eyes were ice cold and calculative, a slightly animal-like grimace on his face as he bared his teeth with a raised lip. He flipped the dagger in hand, slick with the blood of three victims, and he flicked it down so that it landed in the sand with a thud.

The entire fight hadn’t even lasted more than ten minutes.

The silence had returned to the arena in the time that Ruka had started killing, the audience just too mesmerized to do anything other than watch. Yet the second his dagger hit the sand, the crowd exploded into thunderous cheers and calls. Ruka had to say that he enjoyed it, and the grimace turned to a smile as he spotted a familiar green head amongst the private boxes. He couldn’t help but feel his heart race and his blood stir at this kind of reception, and Ruka found that it was a heady feeling.

Evaden had seen him fight, and now his master’s whole world, including his master, had seen him _kill._  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah! This whopper took me ages to finish... all thirteen pages of it! Thank you again to my beta, and the one I'm borrowing the world and Evaden from, BlackSheep240. Especially for putting up with me being so antsy about posting it! You're the best!
> 
> Finally we have some insight to what happened to Ruka in his past, but we still have merely scratched the surface here. xD
> 
> And I really never expected there to be such a good following for this story! I'm so happy!!! 8D Thank you so much everyone, and I hope your excited for more!


	9. Reputation in the Shadows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: extreme violence, blood, and language.

 

To say that Ruka’s reputation had skyrocketed since the first fight would be an understatement; without much trouble he became one of the best fighters in the arena. He became one of the top-ranking fighters in the death fights, and soon almost no master wanted to pen their slaves against him, even their best. Ruka’s brute force and ‘creativity’ when it came to killing made him a formidable opponent, but he was too quick in the ring.

His fights would end in minutes, without much of a struggle on Ruka’s end. He could tell that Evaden wasn’t pleased with this, and neither was the crowd. Ruka was sitting in a small room on the outer ring of the arena, where the privileged slaves were housed before the fights. The room consisted of a washbasin, a mirror, and a comfortable bench that, if Ruka desired it, he could have stretched out his whole body and still had room. He had just finished a match between him and three other slaves that hadn’t even lasted five minutes without Ruka butchering them all. Ruka was allowed a small rest between fights, and he was busy re-tying his hair when he heard a sound at the latticework entrance of the room. He turned and saw Evaden slip through the doorway, which was more of an archway than a doorway, seeing as there was no door.

“Colour me impressed.” He heard the hiss but did not turn around, the bustling sounds of bodies and voices outside the latticework muffled by the walls. Ruka didn’t look, he just continued to straighten out his hair. 

“You were not merely boasting about your skills. You have truly shown your value these past weeks, my Ruka.” The former assassin had to roll his eyes at that; only when his skills were implemented did Evaden actually take notice, what a surprise. He dryly thought of a few other scathing, colourful remarks, but he held them back to a mere wrinkle of the nose. 

When he didn’t respond, Evaden slithered further into the room, “This time, however, I want you to take your time.” His hands were suddenly in Ruka’s hair, knocking away the human’s own hands with a light touch. “People who come here want to see a performance, not an execution. Even if it _is_ an easy kill, give them an extravaganza, if you will, of steel and blood, they will pay more money to see you in the arena again if you do.” The claws that scraped his scalp sent tingles through Ruka’s skin, but none any different than a pleasant scratch or touch would incite. Still, his pride remained relatively watchful, warily listening and waiting on Evaden’s every move. It was like he was always on an edge when it came to Evaden, waiting for something to happen and, despite his preparedness, flinching every time it did.

“Also, make sure not to get hurt,” when Ruka raised an eyebrow, Evaden explained further, “the weapons are rarely ever cleaned. I cannot have you getting sick again, now can I?”

“You seem very concerned about this. I thought I was expendable?” He watched the snake’s movements in the mirror before him, eyes sharp but calm.

Evaden started to tie up Ruka’s hair, having finished combing through it with his claws. It would have been intimate, for someone else. Ruka had to remind himself that nothing, not even sex, was intimate. Especially when it came to his cold-blooded master. The hands in his hair brushed it into a comfortable bunch, before using a strip of leather to tie it back.

While he tied, Evaden continued to talk, avoiding Ruka’s question, “I took some liberties and looked in on your next opponent.” his fingers brushed the earring, Ruka was aware of how close Evaden was.

“He is known for taking his time in the ring. He enjoys making a spectacle out of each round, toying with his foe before trying to kill them.” His breath was brushing the back of Ruka’s neck, now slightly bare that his hair was back.

“I want you to go along with it. Play with him, and then finish him off.” Ruka’s eyes never left the mirror in front of him. It was an instant or so when he saw a flash of something gold and metallic in Evaden’s hand. Ruka tensed, half expecting some kind of knife out of instinct. Yet his suspicions were dashed when he felt his hair tighten a little more as Evaden pressed something to the tie in his ponytail.

The air between them was prickling, it made the hairs on the back of Ruka’s neck stand on end. He wanted to turn, he wanted to see what the hell Evaden had done to his hair. Ruka had almost had enough of all this subtle shadow show, it drove his senses and his pride insane. Yet he didn’t budge, not an inch. He wasn’t about to show Evaden that he was anxious around him, Ruka wouldn’t even admit that to himself. He just glared further at the mirror, saying nothing.

He felt the closeness of Evaden when he leaned in, pressing a kiss to the back of his left ear. A clawed hand had snaked around to stroke Ruka’s jaw on his right side, trapping the human. He could practically _feel_ Evaden’s grin, his breath clouding against his ear and his neck as Evaden breathed in his hair.

“Break his leg.”

And just like that, Evaden was gone. Leaving Ruka in the room, tense as a bowstring with his entire body on full alert. The human was only able to break the tension when he finally turned his head to the archway, making sure that he was indeed alone.

When he had confirmed he was the only one in the room, he turned to look in the mirror again, tilting his head until he caught a glimmer of gold. He ran his fingers over what felt like a hair clasp, and from what he could see it was. The clasp was in the shape of a snake, the serpent clasping a gemstone in its mouth that matched Ruka’s earring perfectly. 

The former assassin frowned; he had heard of masters presenting favourite slaves with gifts, but he hadn’t thought Evaden was one to do such a thing.

Ruka ended up ignoring it; a shiny hairpin wasn’t much use to him in a fight, more like a flashy distraction to his opponent. He didn’t think anything of it, stretching his muscles and rolling his shoulders. The call went out after a while and he was led up the long walk to the familiar door to the arena, he was given a dagger, all the routine by now. Ruka gripped it like he was shaking hands with an old friend; feeling complete once more as the doors opened and he stepped out into the gritty, hard-packed sand.

The cheer that went up was enough to make someone feel drunk off of it, but Ruka just had a thrill down his back and a swelling in his stomach before he quashed it to focus on the coming fight. Evaden hadn’t given him enough information, typical, but Ruka was used to thinking on his feet. The arena was settling after the interlude between Ruka’s fight before and this one, there was still even a little blood on the ground where Ruka had killed his last opponent: some arrogant thief caught a few days ago and thrown into the pits for punishment. He had talked too much and Ruka had cut his throat, he didn’t want to hear anything else from him.

Now the doors opened on the other side of the arena, and out strode Ruka’s opponent. Double Ruka’s size and wearing nothing but a simple loincloth-like covering, the man sneered at the sight of Ruka’s lean form. He practically dwarfed the assassin, his scarred and mutilated face drawn up in yet another arrogant expression. What was with the arrogance today? Ruka nearly groaned in annoyance, but he didn’t want to show anything on his face, nothing that could give him away. The man had clearly been chosen to present Ruka with a challenge, and it certainly would have been more of a challenge, even more-so now that Evaden wanted Ruka to drag it out even _longer._ Just thinking about it made Ruka want to kill something, and his frustration was zeroing in on the brute in front of him. Already he could see about ten different ways to kill him, but he was carefully assessing and selecting the slower ways in the manner someone might pick out a particular melon or bolt of cloth at the market.

The man strode forward to stand a meter from Ruka, also assessing the assassin with his beady eyes. It wasn’t long after the cloth dropped that Ruka guessed the point of the fight, and why the man hadn’t been armed with weapon, or armor. 

The man didn’t lunge at him like his past opponents, Ruka noticed, he paused instead. They both stared at one another for a few seconds, the silence passing through the arena as the crowd hushed. When the tension was nearly palpable, the man feinted to one side. Having seen this before on the streets, Ruka went to guard his other side. Yet the momentum of the other still knocked him back and caused him to stumble one step. Seeing this mistake, the man took the chance to knock Ruka onto his back. He pinned Ruka down and forced his legs apart in one split second.

Or at least he tried to. A second passed and Ruka’s legs moved, parting only to suddenly come together around the man’s head. The smaller human twisted his hips and the man was slammed into the dirt, head first. Ruka used the momentum to roll back to his feet, darting away from his opponent and keeping his body ready for the next attack. They were left the same way they had started, though his adversary had a red welt on his head now. 

With a beastly growl, the man hauled his meaty form up to face Ruka. Now he took a different method of attack, lunging at Ruka’s legs first and sending him to the sand once again. He tried to get between Ruka’s legs again, the loincloth about his groin an easy-access advantage. Ruka was glad for his pants.

Again and again, his opponent attempted to push Ruka down and mount him… and every time, again and again, Ruka would strike a blow that seemed only to enrage the man further. Throughout the whole fight, Ruka’s face remained focused and unresponsive as the frustration in his opponent’s face increased. Ruka rarely used the knife even, only to graze and nick the man; but after a while he was panting heavily and bleeding quite a lot from all the wounds Ruka dealt him.

“Are you just fucking with me or what, gorgeous?” the man panted finally, his gruff voice laced with anger when Ruka ducked away after punching him, causing him to spit blood for a second.

Ruka merely shrugged, “I thought _you_ were supposed to be fucking _me?_ What’s keeping you, _gorgeous?”_ His words got him the reaction he was fishing for, the man roared and charged him like a bull.

Instead, though, he grabbed Ruka instead of pushing him. It caught the human off-guard when he twisted Ruka’s arm around his back and forced him to the dirt on his knees. The assassin grunted and spat when his head hit the sand, and he could taste blood in his mouth.

Thinking he had won, the man gave a huff of laughter and pressed to Ruka’s backside, Ruka could hear him flipping open his loincloth.

Ruka waited, waited for the man to have his mind split between victory and getting off. He could feel him against him, and instantly his mind froze him. He wasn’t in the arena anymore, he was in a small, wooden room. The memory of the smell of alcohol, sex, and blood fresh in his mouth and nose as if it had happened yesterday. Ruka’s eyes turned icy, despite their hazel colouring. His body loosened, the man thought he had won and gave another deep laugh.

Ruka only heard his father. 

The hand with the dagger broke free and rammed into the man’s shoulder. Once distracted with the sudden movement and the pain, the man shrieking, Ruka kicked him away and got up. The crowd cheered, but Ruka heard nothing but the blood rushing in his ears and his heart pounding in his chest. A grisly grin appeared on his face, savage and brutal as he approached his stricken opponent. The dark look on his face had the man’s own cheeks drain of colour. Ruka raised his leg, time seemed to slow for that split second, until he slammed it down on the right femur of the man’s leg, throwing every ounce of strength he had into it. The thick bone broke with a dull snap and squish of muscle and his opponent screamed in agony, clutching at his leg, his bleeding shoulder forgotten.

“What? I thought you were going to fuck me?” Ruka’s face was cold, “What’s keeping you?” All he could hear was the screams and the blood, his heart beating like thunder. “Get. Up.” 

The man spat at him, forcing himself up and using one leg for support. Ruka’s smile widened, “I like that, but it was a bad choice.” Ruka stepped forward, when the man made to swing at him with a meaty fist Ruka dodged the haphazard blow and gripped the dagger in the man’s shoulder. He wrenched it free with a squelch and splatter of blood. He tilted his head casually when the man swung again, only bowing his head slightly. Ruka then took his blade and, in one blue, jabbed it between the man’s legs and twisted, hard.

The crowd roared.

Before the man could scream though, Ruka removed the dagger and shoved it up under his jaw and into his skull. 

The man teetered for a second, and Ruka flicked his fingers beneath his chin, the way a lover might. He sneered at the rolling whites of the man’s eyes, “Should have fucked faster.” Ruka pushed, and the body fell to the ground in a bloody heap on the sand.

 

* * *

 

Leaving the arena, Ruka was well aware that the catcalls he had gotten the weeks before were practically nonexistent now. Many of the other slaves feared him, others somewhat respected him, the rest just stayed out of his way. He walked away with Evaden, his demeanor relaxed for the first time in a while.

“Did you enjoy yourself?” Evaden led Ruka through the market stalls, the evening air heavy with the smell of spices and smoke from cooking fires and inns. The market was still bustling with customers, and Evaden was browsing stalls casually, picking out things here and there that he liked and handing them to Ruka.

“I guess? It’s just what I do, so it’s nothing really special,” Ruka shrugged, looking over an apple at a particular stall before placing it back in its barrel. “Why do you ask? I can tell you enjoy making money off of me,”

“Of course I do. Though making money is just a side pleasure at this point,” Evaden moved slowly beside Ruka, “watching you in the ring, now that is much more enchanting. I only have one problem with all of that…” The snake trailed off, his fingers brushing the former assassin’s jaw. Ruka yanked his head back and away from Evaden when he did.

He snorted, “Why, it wasn’t long enough?”

Suddenly Ruka found himself in a darkened alleyway, pushed against the wall with two hands on either side of his ears. Evaden locked his eyes on Ruka’s while he tilted his head, “The dilemma I have,” he said in a dangerously quiet tone, “is that brute of a man got so close to mounting you.” His voice became a snarl, his expression unreadable. Yet Ruka was able to see annoyance, even a flicker of anger in the snake’s gaze. Clearly Evaden hadn’t schooled his eyes the way he had schooled his facial muscles.

It was moments before Ruka found his shoulders shaking, his brow deepening its frown and his lip curling upwards in a crooked way. His shoulders jerked and he couldn’t hold back any more; a sound escaped his mouth, it sounded like a scoff. The snort deepened to a louder, more robust laugh that had him tilting his head back against the wall, one brow raised at Evaden.

“So in other words, you were _jealous?”_ His voice still held a hint of laughter. How could Evaden be jealous? Hadn’t the snake been eager to see Ruka taken down in a fight? He seemed to enjoy it when he did it himself, but perhaps it wasn’t as entertaining when he wasn’t the one doing it.

“Jealous is a strong expression,” Evaden snarled, “it is more along the lines of: I don’t like my things fondled by contemptible, dirty hands.” Ruka watched as the mixed blue eyes narrowed, the air between them becoming even closer when Evaden pressed his body against the human’s. Their hips fit snugly together, forcing Ruka’s legs apart and around the snake’s girth. “If I am putting you back in the pits,” he leaned in to press his lips to Ruka’s throat, “I want you to castrate any that would try to have you on the pit sands like a common whore.” The breath traveled along Ruka’s neck, nudging the earring at his left and sending a cool sensation up his back. The human had no choice really, but to allow Evaden to do as he wished. A cool touch at his ear reminded him, reminded him every day, that he belonged to someone else.

Evaden rolled his tail, coiling it beneath them as he nuzzled closer to Ruka’s pulse, “You are not a whore, you are not even a killer anymore. You are _mine_ now, and I don’t like to share.” The loss of touch to his skin had Ruka looking back down, his gaze met by reptilian eyes. Possessive eyes that had such an intense air about them that it nearly got a tiny reaction from Ruka, though all it did elicit from him was a confused frown.

He knew he was trapped as a slave; his earring was a constant reminder of that, but slaves were normally shared or provided as entertainment. It was rare, even in the human parts of the world that Ruka had known, for a master to claim a slave so protectively. Serious gaze met serious, and Ruka blinked. He looked back as if he were Evaden’s equal, the air between them humming with the tension of the silence.

“You forget, that I will always be a killer.”

“You are only a killer, when _I_ say you are. Until then, you are mine and mine alone,” his fingers dug into Ruka’s waist, claws sliding down and gripping at the human’s rear. A smile started to replace Evaden’s expression, especially when his slave started to tense at the touch. “Now, are you just going to stand there? We have things to do. We’re going to the special bazaars.” Huffed the snake, letting Ruka go. He landed on his feet as Evaden slithered away, left to regain his orientation again.

Ruka rolled his eyes and made to follow, he was going to need serious time away from Evaden after they got back to the oasis. Yet he already knew that that wasn’t going to be an option, not where Evaden was concerned.

That had Ruka rolling his eyes again. Typical Evaden.

 

* * *

 

 Apparently that meant going deeper into the city, closer to the heart it seemed. Ruka noticed that now the sand-coloured buildings and slums of the arena markets were turning too much more lavish homes and stately houses. There were even a few with fancy gates, where Ruka couldn’t even see much of the main buildings, only tall walls. The bazaar that Evaden had mentioned teemed with life; merchants selling exotic pets, others displaying spices that Ruka had never before seen, and probably would never use. There were even stalls with some of the most intricate metal works, some with blades and daggers that made Ruka’s eyes light up. He even saw a box with a set of simple throwing knives that, to the untrained eye, seemed completely plain. Yet to Ruka they had a shine that made him almost smile at them. He needed new knives, especially after coming to be Evaden’s slave. Seeing the daggers woke a sense of longing in him that he hadn’t realized had been sitting in his gut before, it wasn’t like a longing homesickness, nor was it anything like bloodlust. No, it was a different kind that had Ruka wanting to hold those daggers, to buy them and make a home for them.

He wasn’t able too, however, Evaden ushered him along, the snake pulling him along now and expertly weaving throughout the crowds. He explained things here and there to Ruka, who was still trying to get to know the city, apart from the ruins that Evaden called home out in the desert. Ruka couldn’t care much for what Evaden thought of things or what his opinions were, but he _did_ care about how things worked in the world he was now a part of. Just in case, he thought, he would have to snatch up any tidbit of information he could get. Evaden explained how the bazaar, and many others like it, was the life blood of the city. It was the rest of the kingdom’s way of getting its cut through taxes, and it circulated currency throughout the kingdom.

That this was an actual kingdom was news to Ruka, he had thought it was just some cesspool of naga people, spider women and beast-men that all teemed in some horrible stew of sex, violence, and slavery. Instead, he came to know that it was much like a human hierarchy, with a few more complicated elements that Ruka failed to catch the information on. Evaden pointed out, as they walked, a few high-standing people at the bazaar. Though, they were hardly visible, mostly riding in covered palettes carried by strong slaves, tented and draped with silks to protect the dignitaries from the harsh heat of the day. Some of the dignitaries he _could_ see were dressed in what Ruka would amount to stupidly excessive amounts of metallic jewelry; gold, silver, gemstones, and various expensive cloths. They glittered like jewels themselves, and it made Ruka squint to look at them.

The slaves carrying the palettes, or walking near their masters, were no better off. They were strung with strings of pearls and diamonds, showing off almost every bit of skin. Ruka cringed at this, being in the hot sun and wearing that many tons of jewelry was downright stupid. When Evaden said he wouldn’t mind seeing Ruka in such livery, the assassin vehemently rejected the idea straight off. There was no way he would let himself be dressed up like some trained circus horse, he had enough to deal with without looking like some ridiculous display of money. Ruka didn’t care if Evaden thought it looked ‘sexy’, he wasn’t going to do it.

There was a tall building looming up out of the center of the city, the tallest in the city probably. It was a beautiful building made out of golden sandstone, carved with fissures and pipes that fed from the top. It was, as Evaden said, the Tower of Water. From the great aqueducts and pipes came clean, free-flowing water for all to drink. Ruka could see massive pipes that fed into a starburst pattern of fountains at its base, sparkling water shooting into the air and pooling in the fountain bases. All around the fountains milled citizens, either they were slaves gathering water in gilded, fancy pitchers, or masters drinking with goblets.

They both fit in with such livery; Evaden’s clothing was expensive but simple, he even wore less gold than usual since the arena and that surprised Ruka just a bit. The only gold on his person was a single gold clasp in his lip that glinted in the light whenever he turned his head to the sun. Ruka was happy with his plain clothes, he never liked that kind of expensive shit anyways.

Beyond the Tower of Water, as they came closer, was a grand palace that was surrounded by thick sandstone walls, capped with iron fencing. Ruka didn’t need help discerning who lived there; he could see only the tips of the roofs beyond, and it was indeed mysterious, but it must have been the royal palace. If this kind of world had a monarchy, which Evaden had told him about very minimally, then this is probably the most-likely place they would be.

Suddenly firm hands pulled him along on his wrist, Evaden weaving them through a complex, and seemingly random, pattern of streets and bazaar stalls. At first, Ruka thought they were being followed, but Evaden did not even look backwards once. Knowing enough of body language, Ruka guessed that they were the ones following. In that case, he kept his head down and his senses alert. The two of them slowed to a crawl a few moments later, inching towards a stall near a shadowy alcove.

Ruka’s eyes scanned forward, following Evaden’s drawn gaze to two men talking together at a small wall fountain. One of the men was fat, clearly he ate well, that or he didn’t exercise enough, Ruka couldn’t really tell. His beard was as long as his torso and was a wiry dark-brown. He laughed jovially, slapping the other man’s back with a meaty, sausage-fingered hand. “Yeh crusty ol’ bastard! You _really_ going to keep yer lips locked on evr’y thing? That’s not how yeh move up in this world my friend!” He stroked his long beard, which was braided with beads. Ruka saw the flash of rings on his hand, and they clicked together against each of the beads. Ruka wondered how in the hell he managed to wiggle those rings onto his thick fingers, but maybe that would be a puzzle for another time.

The man he was talking too was also big, but in a more thuggish way. His arms and legs were as thick as tree trunks, his chest a barrel with an abdomen that looked like someone could wash their clothes on them; their _dirty_ clothes. Ruka sniffed, the fat man wasn’t a threat, but this other guy would be a problem if things came to a fight. 

The thuggish man was holding a piece of fabric in his hands, glaring at it like he wanted it to explode, that or he was in deep thought. Though the latter seemed quite difficult, the man looked like he had taken too many hits to the head, especially the face. His nose must have been broken five times for it was crooked and lumpy in places, the former assassin wondered who would have been suicidal enough to try to punch this man. Whoever it had been, they were probably six-feet-under. Ruka paused, maybe more like sixty…

“Ta be a guard te the prince is a high-payin’ job, I ain’t gonna fuck it up,” he spoke far lower than his friend. Okay, maybe he had a few smarts.

The fat man nodded, “An’ just so my friend. But, being so close, ya might overhear lots’a details eh? I have some friends tha could protect ya, for the right information,” he grinned, his sweaty face contorting and bunching in order to make the expression. “Who can ye trust in this big ol’ world if not yer friends?” he gave his guard friend a toothy smile.

It took a moment, but the guard seemed to agree. He nodded his head and made his fat friend clap his hands together, “Good! Let’s go and meet my friend! He’s in a bar, yer gonna wanna keep yer manners with this’un.” He said, leading the thuggish man away through the crowd.

They shadowed them for what seemed like hours, following as closely as possible. In and out of alcoves and pathways, they kept hot on their heels until they came to an overhang and a shadowed alley. Evaden stopped and looked between the two buildings from across the street, Ruka waited for him to make a decision as he saw the two men vanish into the shadows.

It wasn’t long before Ruka was yanked along with the snake, moving towards the shadows and to the right. The former assassin’s eyes adjusted to the dim light, and he found that they were walking through the door of what seemed to be an inn. Yet this inn had a thick-smelling haze about the air that made everything look fuzzy to look at, as if seen through a dense fog. It seemed to be a house where patrons could enjoy smoking sweet-smelling herbs that were sold on the market outside, and a few that were not. There was soft, sensual music playing, and a few dancers up on a small stage making erotic movements with their hands. Ruka peered around, seeing a balcony ringing the entire main foyer of the house, one that led up to by a set of stairs concealed in the shadows near the door. He could see the outlines of doors beyond the gloom of smoke up on the balconies, it appeared to him that there were even private rooms available to the patrons.

He blinked and found himself and Evaden in one of those private rooms, bought and paid for. At first he tensed, a wary eye on Evaden’s back, thinking that he would have to stave off more of the naga’s attentions. However, he watched as Evaden opened the window onto the alleyway below, leaning close but not poking his head out. Ruka heard him curse and look about the window frame, perhaps he was angry at the window?

Ruka was just feeling like he didn’t really want to be there when Evaden turned to face him with a sly smile on his face. “I need you to use those assassin skills of yours, my dear Ruka.” The sweet purr in his voice made Ruka recoil a little, his nose wrinkling. “Follow them. Come back and tell me everything that happens. Do not even _dare_ getting caught.” He had a quick order from Evaden, and a small shove in the small of his back.

Footwork. Espionage. Ruka hadn’t been given a better task.

He grinned darkly and was out the window in seconds, curling himself on the edge before he turned about and gripped the roof edge. He hauled over the roof lip and moved as silently as a cat over the slated tiles. He was _very_ glad to have bare feet.

He could grip cracks in the walls, nails digging deep into crusty stone and sand grit. The assassin moved to where his keen ears picked up the sound of voices, until he was directly overtop of them, listening and watching from below. He was well concealed in the shadow of a jutting roof alcove, his body crouched like a waiting animal. He looked down on three heads, two human and one naga. The naga was recognizable, though Ruka had only seen him once before. He rubbed his eyebrow where a tiny scar had formed, as if the soreness from a tossed stone still haunted his nerves, even now.

Abel and the two men were talking in hushed tones, and Ruka had to move a little closer to hear what was being said. The porky man was introducing the thuggish guard to Abel, his voice slightly louder than the others.

“Abasi, this is Abel, a god friend of mine. E’s interested in the work of the princes an’ their family,” the man explained as if to a child, but Ruka didn’t think he was actually being that way to insult the thuggish man Abasi, he figured he just talked that way.

Abel did a bow, and when he did Ruka caught a glimpse of his slaves lounging behind him on benches. He bared his teeth only a little, before returning his attention to the conversation below in the alley. “A pleasure to meet you, Abasi,” Abel’s voice was sultry and political, very refined whereas the other two were gritty. “I can see clearly now why the prince hand-picked you. You look able to take on the entire army with one arm.” He laughed, the sound like stones and metal colliding together and screaming. The other men joined in.

The conversation went in circles, Abel coaxing cooperation from Abasi and making sure that he was willing to share the goings-on of the royals and keep his mouth shut at the same time. Abel, as Ruka realized, played the part of the good citizen; wanting to make sure the monarchs did right by the people, blah, blah, blah. Ruka knew it was just sugar-coated words, he could see it in Abel’s subtle sneers whenever Abasi agreed to anything.

Then the words ‘Sakayn Al Ruppe Butcher’ and ‘Red Prince’ came up in conversation, and Ruka tuned his ears since it made them all stand up a little straighter. Clearly this was important. Abel reacted the most animatedly, a hand coming up to touch his lips with his manicured claws, almost as if in shock. “You don’t day? Is there anything that can connect the Red Prince to the Butcher?” He tilted his head, his brows knitting.

Abasi nodded, “The palace, as ye know, has sep’rate houses fer each prince. The Red Prince’s palace is said ter be where he does his dirty work. I-I hear screams late at night from ‘is walls,” for the thuggish brute to stutter, Ruka guessed that this must be a terrifying thing indeed. “I am only talkin’ about it now ‘cause my prince is gettin’ worried. I won’t stan’ for tha.”

“Indeed. The Green Prince, so far, has shown to be the most sensible of the princes. Let us all hope that he survives and makes it to the crown, before his brothers seize it from him.”

So there was fighting among the monarchs? Particularly, it was a battle for the throne. This was something a war-profiteer would sacrifice everything for, hang everything on. It wouldn’t be hard to start a fight between princes who were already tense and tiptoeing around one another for the throne. Disturb anything and it would break open like a hornet nest, and probably devastate any kind of kingdom they had here. Ruka listened a little more, but it seemed now that they were content with gossip: how the Gold Prince was in love with one of his slaves, the Blue Prince locking himself in his rooms and not leaving for long periods of time. It didn’t seem like much information, nothing like what he had heard before. 

Ruka decided he had heard enough; quietly he slipped away and back to the room. If war was brewing between the factions of the monarchy, then it wouldn’t be good for him to stick around this strange place. War was something he was _definitely_ not interested in, be it directly or non-directly affecting him. He would have to find a way out of this web, and fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOAH. It's been forever everyone! This year ended with many huge bangs for me, so I've been rushing about since the last update. I'm DEFINITELY still writing this with Blacksheep240! We're so happy for all the hits from you guys, and all the comments! I love hearing them~ 
> 
> So this is our gift for you! The ninth chapter for Christmas Holidays!!


	10. Leniency

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Language

The ruins in the desert were quiet, and strangely so. Ruka was moving about, doing his usual chores without so much as a glance to Evaden. He moved about cleaning, still growling and grumbling whenever he was given an order, but he did it anyways. He still fought back, but he wasn't as vocal as he had been before. Why should he be? Ruka was lost in thought most of the time, trying to figure out what he had inadvertently learned that night out in town.

There might be a war coming, a war that he didn't want to be a part of, let alone on the wrong side of. He hated politics, it always meant that one stupid move could fuck up everything, and Ruka knew that he was often prone to some stupid decisions. His pride lashed its tail at that thought, but he snapped at it. He was human, he made stupid decisions.

Like going out into the desert on his own and being enslaved by some power-and-sex-obsessed snake overlord. Not to point any fingers though.

Shaking his head, Ruka went back to folding and putting away a few blankets. He had finished for the morning and was, thankfully, alone for a while. He hadn't seen Evaden since he had gotten up, and that meant he had most of the afternoon to himself if he got away fast and quiet enough about it. He left the shade of the sandstone ruins, heading over to the calm oasis and sitting beneath one of the palm trees to enjoy the shade for a while.

It wasn't like Ruka feared Evaden. He would fight back at the snake whenever it went too far, and both knew it. No, he just wanted some time alone to think, to process the things he had learned. Clearly, Evaden saw that as something rebellious and tended to like punishing him for it, which made a nerve in Ruka's eyebrow twitch in annoyance. The human decided then, after shaking himself once more, that dwelling on what Evaden decided on, be it rebellion or non-rebellion, it was none of Ruka's concern as of right now.

So, apparently, there were princes in this parallel world of snake-people. Interesting, but completely beside the point of the fact that there was possibly a war coming. A Red Prince and a Green Prince, both apparently fighting for the throne, though what about these Gold and a Blue Princes that he had also heard about? Whomever this royal family was, they apparently had way too many offspring. Though, and he thought dryly about this, if half of the snake-people population here was just as bad as Evaden when controlling their sexual urges, Ruka wasn't really that surprised, to say the least. 

He didn't have enough information to go off, only that one of the princes, was it the Gold one? No, it was the Red, he remembered that at least. The Red Prince was supposedly aligned with someone called the ‘Butcher'? He knew it was a longer name, but for now, he just dubbed the person ‘Butcher'. Ruka knew the fear of a name when he heard it, and when he had heard the snake Abel and the others talking about him, Ruka had felt the note of worry and fear in their voices. Clearly, this ‘Butcher' was someone to be wary of. Though he knew if he voiced any of these opinions at all, then Evaden would just treat it like some scared child afraid of a rumor. It ground Ruka, to be treated like an object, something only there when called upon.

Suddenly, lancing through his thoughts, Ruka felt a flare of heat that went straight down his abdomen and between his legs. It wasn't pain, but he knew that it was coming from the earring punched through his ear, and he let out a small but surprised hitch of breath before biting his tongue. He snarled, of course, Evaden would want him now.

"Ruka, come here." Came the slow, clear, slightly far-off voice.

Instead of getting up immediately, Ruka hissed in annoyance and he waited a moment. Then, he slowly got to his knees and stood from where he was. Damn Evaden, being able to control even his body like this! He had been on the far side of the oasis pond, hidden by tall, spindly grass, so of course, Evaden hadn't seen him. He huffed and glared at Evaden from across the water, crossing his arms and not moving an inch. 

Evaden was just a little outside of the ruins, hands on his hips as he made eye contact with Ruka. The former assassin watched as the snake raised a brow, and he felt some small twinge of satisfaction at this. He could be just as much of an annoyance in return to his so-called ‘master'. Ruka also spotted the tail flick, the irritation showing clearly in Evaden's mannerisms. Even now Ruka was able to read the snake better than ever, and that probably made Evaden even more disagreeable.

"Come here."

Not wanting to be summoned like a mongrel dog, Ruka continued to glare back with a piercing gaze. A few more glares and bad looks later he, very slowly, walked over to Evaden. When he finally stood near the snake, meeting his bi-coloured blue-eyes, he snapped irritably, "What?" 

The frown was a reward enough, either Ruka was getting somewhere in that thick, overpowered skull, or he was walking on thin ice right now. He liked to think that it was both. There was a momentary pause before Evaden lifted his hand, and pain shot through Ruka's head from the earring. The human gripped his ear and hissed, but other than that he merely lost his straightened posture. Evaden strode forward, or as much as he could ‘stride' with that gods-damned tail of his, and knocked Ruka's legs out from under him. Wrapped up suddenly in the snake's coils and unable to get away, Ruka could only struggle lightly and stare at Evaden, who merely regarded him with mild annoyance.

"You have been acting out in a very different way, and I do not like it," the snake spoke as he leaned forward, resting himself on a segment of his large tail with his mismatched eyes locked on Ruka. "Want to tell me what has you acting like this?"

Ruka hissed, the snake putting him in a coil-lock was becoming too commonplace by now. His hands were clenched into tense fists beneath the snake's tail grip, and his teeth were clenched. Despite the tightness in Ruka's body, he let out a calm sigh through his nose. "Why do you suddenly give a damn about how I feel? You never have before."

"You seem to think very little of me," the snake's eyes narrowed, "you are avoiding my question. Why play games when you know you will lose, and I will get answers?" Ruka wanted to snap at the clawed hand that brushed a stray strand of his hair behind his ear, before moving to stroke the earring that kept Ruka trapped at Evaden's side.

His anger was starting to come to a boil. "Well, you seem to think very little of me, besides being a damned dog you can call on whenever your cock takes a fancy to it, or when you need me for your dirty work! What do you care? You may get what you want sometimes, but I'll be damned if you get all of me." The words just growled out, and he was visibly trying to pull away from the sensitive touch to his ear.

Another frown, gods this snake needed to show some emotion! "A dog would get less kind treatment, and still come quickly when summoned," Evaden pointed out, still straight-faced.

"You act like a child. True you can kill; you are even good at it. Yet this is a child throwing a temper tantrum," 

His body felt shaky, somehow Ruka felt a flash of panic settle into his shoulders and his legs and all he wanted to do was run, and never look back. His heart raced and he wasn't sure if it was anger or that thin veil of hysteria that was threatening to sink its claws into him. Evaden knew of all the bad blood going on behind the scenes, he knew and Ruka would be dragged down into the web with him. He wanted out; he wanted to be away from the web, far away. But his anger was starting to overflow and like he had thought before, he was prone to stupid decisions. Right now, that stupid decision was arguing with the snake that found it enjoyable to beat him silly.

"A child? Is _that_ how you see me? You do _nothing_ but look down on me, you god-awful reptile! You act like a pompous lord playing God with his toys. A dog may come, but I'm no dog of yours!" He nearly bared his teeth, feeling the rage and panic well up in his belly, and focus on the snake in front of him. He didn't want to be there, and he felt that still insane instinct to run. He had an inkling that things were going to go very, very south, but he couldn't escape from it. Might as well face it if you're cornered and can't fucking get away. 

Evaden raised a hand, and Ruka flinched. He could see the thoughts in Evaden's eyes, racing through his expressions in tiny little whorls and flashes. The human wanted to spit, to fight, to claw and bite until he could get some kind of a reaction out of his captor. Watching, he could see the anger rising in Evaden's eyes, and he could see those thoughts racing about. Maybe he was considering killing Ruka? Or giving him to some other master to learn some ‘respect'. Maybe he wanted nothing more than to beat Ruka, and somehow, Ruka felt like he wanted that to happen.

A tiny look of realization blitzed over Evaden's face before it was gone again, and the coils around him released at a molasses-like pace. The hand lowered, and Evaden all but pushed Ruka away from him. 

"Leave me, Ruka." The tone was cold, dismissive.

He felt cut-off, as if all that rage had been boiling, only for the heat to suddenly be turned off. His eyes never left Evaden, and he frowned deeply when the snake started to turn away. His rage simmered again and he growled, "Oh, so just because you can't come up with a fucking proper excuse? That means I'm right!" the hair along the back of his neck was rising. Ruka had had enough of this, of being thrown around and treated like a toy. "You're not saying anything now because you know my words are right!"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP." The shout was loud and powerful, and Ruka froze, blinking with shock. Suddenly, Evaden rounded on him and gripped his shoulders, almost like he was about to sink his claws into Ruka. The snake pulled him closer and looked clean into Ruka's eyes, "Leave. Me." 

Ruka said nothing at all, he waited until Evaden roughly released and pushed him away. Taking slow steps away from Evaden, Ruka backed up. His steps quickened as he turned and jogged away from the other, all the way around the oasis and up onto a higher part of the sandstone ruins. He stomped out onto the outlook, and punched downwards through the air, kicking sand dust-up with his heels and over the edge of the ruin. There was one palm tree overhanging the outlook, and Ruka sat down beneath its shade in a huff, hanging his head over his crossed legs and trying desperately to calm himself down.

He couldn't even think straight, Evaden _never_ shouted. It had been one of the only times that Ruka had felt a true fear of the snake. The rage he had seen, all that frustration, was a mirror of his own. Both had been angry at one another for different reasons, and now Ruka had finally crossed what seemed to be a line.

Furious, he wanted to scream. He wanted to run or punch something and he wasn't sure which one he wanted to do more. Being treated this way left Ruka with a feeling of absolute helplessness, and that was something he never wanted to ever feel again. It made him think of dark closets and dingy wood floors, the smell of alcohol on breath and thick sweaty hands grabbing at his hair and his body. It made the pit of his stomach drop and the fight rise and scream in him like a caged animal. He wasn't a child anymore, he was a dangerous assassin! That at least demanded some respect! Even if he couldn't kill Evaden, he should demand some respect at the smallest increment.

 

* * *

 

The day had gone by slowly, but Ruka noticed hardly any of it. He never left his spot on top of the ruins, and he didn't say a damn thing. Then again, there was no one to talk to so he might as well have talked to the sand or the air. Sand was stupid, he wouldn't talk to that, and air well, the air was just plain invisible. The only thing that changed was his sitting position every now and then. He would get up and shift to get the pins and needles out of his legs, and then sit down again in only a slightly different position. 

By now, the sun was setting. Ruka had heard no more calls from the desert ruin, none from across the oasis and no twinges in his ear, be they pain or something else. His anger had gone down to a low simmer, to a tiny bubble that stuck in his throat and made him feel uncomfortable. Other than that, he fixed his gaze out across the desert to the horizon, now watching the sun slowly starting to set and blaze the sky with oranges and pinks.

He heard the sound of an approach before he felt the presence at his side, and he remained still the entire time as he allowed Evaden, for who else could it be, to approach. There was no other sound from him except his breathing when Evaden sat down near him. Ruka could feel the snake turn his head, and he knew that the other was just as equally angry at him, but Ruka would say nothing. He wanted to know what other bullshit Evaden would come up with.

"You act as if I am some evil-doer that needs to be defeated," came the words, and Ruka almost smirked at that.

_Damn right._

"You do not seem to realize that I am, in fact, the most lenient that I know. I am kind."

 _Kind?!_ Ruka wanted to scream at him.

But that was all he got because Evaden rose and left a moment later, without giving Ruka a chance to talk back and leaving him alone once more.

Lenient, kind, what in the hell was Evaden thinking? He had gone rigid when the other spoke, and he had to restrain himself from turning and shouting at the snake. How in the hell had he been lenient? How was he kind? He had trapped Ruka here with a damned piece of jewelry! Ruka wanted nothing more than to shout his frustration, but now he couldn't. The human ground his teeth together, searching through any of his memories with a fine-toothed comb, looking for anything he could use to lash out at Evaden later with.

Ruka paused in his thoughts. Come to think of it… Evaden hadn't done much to discipline him before, except hit him and force sex on him. True, that was awful, but he had truly experienced worse, and at the hands of those far closer to him in blood. But if what Evaden was lenient because of not being as violent as Ruka's father had been, then Ruka would probably have to rework his understanding of the word.

But, he had seen the ways that the other snakes had treated their slaves. He had seen them pushing their slaves down, just for one foot out of line. He had also seen them forcing sex on them in the middle of a public plaza, with other looking on and enjoying it like it was some kind of sick sport. Evaden had never done that unless it was a mere punishment like the incident with Abel. Then he had only used it for punishment and had immediately seen to Ruka's injuries afterwards. He wasn't like Abel, at least, rough and demanding though he was. And, though Ruka was incredibly reluctant to admit it even to himself, he was glad for that.

When he looked up, Ruka realized that the sun had gone down and he still hadn't moved. Feeling the chill of the desert night starting to seep into his skin, and cool his anger down more, Ruka rose stiffly and went back to the ruin.

The ruins were only lit by the moonlight from outside and a few small torches and candles inside, but the room itself where they usually slept was dark enough. He stood in the doorway leading to the bedroom, looking at Evaden who was curled up and asleep on the bed amongst all the silk pillows. He looked comfortable, and almost indifferent about whether or not Ruka would join him or not, but he could have just imagined that.

He wasn't too sure that he wanted to squeeze into that bed with the coils and the pillows, not after that morning. Ruka glanced about and stole one pillow, placing it down on the floor and leaning his back against the bed. He stayed there for a while with one knee drawn up and his arm and head resting on it until finally falling asleep.

 

* * *

 

 

Morning came, and Ruka woke to find himself alone in the bedroom. He had woken stiff and sore from sleeping the way he had, and his anger was still stirring down under his skin, but he was far calmer than he had been the day before. He rose and stretched, and walked through the halls of the ruin, seeing that the sun was already up and trickling in through some of the small windows of the building.

He stepped out into the sunlight, and he saw Evaden sunbathing by the oasis nearby, leaning back on his arms and his tail slightly in the cooler waters of the oasis pond. Ruka marched over to one of the palm trees nearby and sat down, knees to his chest and his arms crossed over as he pressed his chin to them. They sat in silence together, both either ignoring, or reluctantly and silently acknowledging one another.

The thoughts from last night and Ruka begrudgingly felt that he had to at least say something. He painstakingly, and reluctantly, muttered against his arm a soft, "I'm sorry."

Evaden hardly moved, and Ruka felt like he was suspended in air after he had spoken. Until he heard the arrogant voice from the snake, "Sorry, what was that? I was miles away in my own thoughts," the pomp in the tone was driving him mad.

A muscle slid in Ruka's jaw as he clenched his teeth together tightly. His own face was unreadable, and he didn't move a damn inch when he heard Evaden shift into, what he was imagining to be a far more relaxed pose. He wanted to growl out an insult but somehow he knew that it would just make things go downhill once more.

"I know you heard me." 

"I actually did not, but very well."

Ruka sighed through his nose, annoyed at this point to no avail, but even now his anger was starting to fizzle out. He just hated the fact that he had to admit that, even though he hated Evaden, it was better being attached to him than someone like Abel. A rare, calm breeze ruffled the palm above him and his hair, and somehow it made him feel a little calmer than he had felt before. Just a little. "I said I was sorry."

He could practically feel Evaden smile, and he didn't look at the snake at all, ignoring him after he had been forced to apologize twice. There was a touch to his side, and Ruka jumped and looked down to see the tail slowly wrapping around his waist, tugging him a little closer but nothing else. Breath hitching just a little, he eyed the tail warily, his entire body tense as a bowstring. His eyes glanced over, but Evaden did nothing else besides relax, eyes closed and enjoying bathing in the sun. Somehow, it felt like the tense atmosphere had started to dissipate, and Ruka began to unlock his body.

Perhaps Evaden wasn't so bad, even though Ruka wouldn't admit it to himself, let alone let the snake know that he was starting to agree with him.

 

* * *

 

There was low evening light when Evaden came back from his trip into town. It had been two days at least, and by then Ruka had calmed a little, though he was still a little tense with his thoughts. He wouldn't want to mention his fears to Evaden, he'd probably be chastised for it or made fun of, so he stayed silent with it.

Ruka was up sitting on top of the entrance to the ruins, his usual favourite spot since he could see the ‘road' or the route towards the town, and most of the desert. Swinging his legs and looking about, he spotted Evaden snaking his way towards the ruins, and he frowned. He was carrying something that looked like a thin box in his hands and seemed to be eating something small between his fingers.

At first, Ruka wasn't very interested. Perhaps it was merely just something that snakes enjoyed eating. Then a breeze ruffled from behind Evaden and towards Ruka, and he caught a scent on the breeze that made him go rigid. Eyes widening, Ruka sat forward, sniffing at the wind. It smelled sweet, with a distinctively heavy palate at the back of his throat that made Ruka's mouth water.

 

He knew it, and he stood…

 

* * *

 

Evaden was enjoying snacking on one of the small chocolates he had fished from the box he was bringing back. It was a reward mostly for Ruka following his orders in town the last time, and for apologizing for his bad conduct. Swiping some from the box on the way, he was almost back to his home under the desert, when a sandy-blond blur suddenly raced by him and yanked the chocolate box out of his hands. Evaden blinked, the chocolate in his hand still halfway to his mouth as he slowly turned around and then back around again in a full circle. The sandy blur was gone, back up to above the ruins.

Then Evaden realized a second later that the chocolate in his hand was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE'RE BACK!!
> 
> Wow... after a long and busy few months since our last update, Desert Butterfly is back!! @BlackSheep240 and I have been working hard on this chapter, and though our updates will remain slow for now, we're still working hard on the story! 
> 
> We have big things planned for you guys so keep an eye out!


	11. Tempestuous Harmony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: coarse/foul language, suggestive sexual content, mention of incest and assault, public humiliation.

As usual, the sun was hot over the bazaar. Ruka followed behind Evaden the white hood over his head and back covering him from the dangerous heat, and from those who tended to enjoy gawking at him following behind Evaden. The people and, other creatures, populating the marketplace made weaving through the crowds a must. Ruka could keep up with Evaden rather easily, he wore too much gold and, though his head was covered by a white cowl that was like Ruka’s, he jingled like a money-laden merchant. The flash of gold in the sunlight wasn’t uncommon in the marketplace bazaar, but it was enough for Ruka to spot him if he went too far ahead. They both came to an alleyway between two shops and a few bazaar stands, and Ruka watched with a veiled gaze as Evaden went up to a wall near the back, pulled out a loose brick, and stuffed what looked like a small leather bag into the crevice before turning back to Ruka and leading him back out.

They walked near the great fountain in the middle of the marketplace, a great structure with rivers and stone troughs flowing down and out of it in an almost star-like pattern. Ruka was just looking at it when Evaden suddenly turned towards him and unhooked the hide water skin at his waist, handing it to Ruka. “Ruka, dear. Could you go and fill this water skin?”

Giving Evaden a slightly suspicious, but calm look as he took the water skin, knowing that Evaden just wanted him to be out of the way for a moment or two. “Sure.” He wasn’t exactly sure why they had come out to the bazaar today, especially after all the sneaking around he had been made to do the few weeks before. He shrugged, walking off to fill the water skin at the fountain, not wanting to get involved with any more crap with Evaden than he was already stuck in. The fountain itself was actually a giant water tower, so huge that he could see windows inside of it and people–nagas—moving about inside. The great tower was the tallest in the city, and from it flowed the clean water that many from miles around depended on. Ruka couldn’t remember very well, but he had known that Evaden had called this tower something, and that it was important to snake society. From the tower fanned different troughs that the public could scoop water from, the water flowed from the tower and fell into each trough with precision aim. Ruka could see children, beast and naga alike, playing in the misty spray at the base of some of the tower receptacles.

He ignored the hooded looks he got from other nagas, beast-men, and people passing-by at the fountain, bending to dip the skin into the river nearby. He sank it up to his mid arm, and indulged in the cool water against his dry skin. Ruka didn’t care who saw him, but he did have the hood to cover most of his face. A tiny smile tugged at his mouth, and a relieved feeling washed over him. Water this cool and clear was a treasure in a place like this, as Ruka had found early on. The oasis back at Evaden’s den was a blessing, and a heavily coveted one. Yet, springs like this, though brought on by magic, were heaven even if you managed a small sip from it. Ruka could hardly help himself, but he soon dipped both arms into the water, and brought the free hand up. He cupped water into his mouth and drank some of the sweet water, and felt a cloud that he hadn’t known was around him, lift. It was such a relief to Ruka, that he decided that he could take a little longer just to peeve Evaden. Besides, it was a pleasant, if not short, getaway from the snake. Even those who were giving him hungry looks, Ruka didn’t mind. They had seen him with Evaden, and that made Ruka feel a little relieved as well, because no one bothered him at all.

Evaden didn’t seem to care about how long Ruka took, and Ruka noticed this when he finally came back to the snake. He came in the middle of the conversation, and he hung back enough so that he caught the tail end of their words. Evaden was talking to a naga at the front desk of a shop, smiling charmingly as they did.

“I see, I will be sure to send in your order for leather,” the other naga said, his eyes looking to Ruka with a raised brow when he walked in.

Evaden merely held his hand out for the water skin and said nothing to Ruka. Instead he took a drink when Ruka handed it over and then hooked it back to his waist. “Good, I want a good supply before the end of the month.” He placed a few coins down onto the counter, turning his eyes around the store, “You may also want to pack up shop soon, I hear that the northwest corridors are much better for ointments and spices,” a smirk signalled his exit, “Goodbye, brother.” Evaden nodded his head to the snake, and Ruka noted as they left that he looked nothing like Evaden, aside from the slightly deeper shade of green of his scales.

Ruka raised an eyebrow back at the snake across the counter when he noticed the look to him when he entered. Other than looking back, he said nothing, even as he followed Evaden out of the store. He adjusted his hood on his shoulders, and nearly walked into Evaden on the outside. The snake had paused to wait for him, but didn’t notice that Ruka was following right behind him. In order to cover this blunder, Ruka sniffed.

“Whatever shipment you got, I know it’s not leather. I’m no idiot.” He also wasn’t stupid, he knew to keep his voice low, but he also made no move to inquire what the shipment was. He didn’t know, and he didn’t want to know, it would only get him involved and tangled in more than he wanted to be in. Instead, he changed the subject again, “Actual brother, or just a saying?”

Evaden was already moving, and he laughed harshly at Ruka’s words. “Actual. Though, there is little love between us. He gets the gold, and I get what I need,” he shrugged, “As for my shipment, that is for me to know. Perhaps you will learn of it sooner, or later. Why bring it up, if you know it not to be leather? I never did call you a fool, so why strive to prove it to me?”

Caught. Ruka ground his teeth, he was becoming careless in the way he spoke. His eyes narrowed, and he felt anger starting to boil. It was becoming infuriating, he rolled his eyes to emphasize his annoyance, “What do I care what you do behind closed doors?” he shrugged, “Your business is your business. I have no interest in knowing your comings and goings,” he turned his attention to the market, looking curiously to the stalls and outwardly avoiding eye contact with Evaden. He didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

“Seems you do,” he heard the smug comment from Evaden. Ruka nearly groaned, he could hear the victory in the other’s voice. He could feel the closeness of the snake when he pulled up closer and, as always, Ruka ignored the close proximity of him. The human refused to make eye contact with him, knowing that it would annoy Evaden the most, but Ruka was having a hard time not looking to glare daggers at the snake.

“See anything you like?” Evaden purred.

Ruka snorted and ignored this, and they went on. He was also trying hard not to fawn over the knives and weapons that he saw that were so clearly of good make that he had to swallow hard to keep himself from going over to inspect further. There was a particular knife that had caught his eye while avoiding looking at Evaden. It was simple, but had a handle so elegant, made of such fine white bone that it looked like marble. Ruka’s eyes flashed to it greedily, but he made no move to touch it.

“A few things, though that’s hardly of consequence. If you buy panties for me again, though, I swear that I’ll make your life a living hell.”

The laugh he received was annoying. Great, he was now a comedian for Evaden’s amusement. Ruka could hardly control his thrill of excitement.

“Oh, but they did look so lovely on you,” he could hear the dark pleasure in the other’s voice, and he nearly snapped at him. “I guess that you would rather like something else, though,”

Ruka had to hand it to Evaden, a little grudgingly. The snake had good intuition. He knew that Ruka had been eyeing the knives, and he watched as Evaden picked up a rather low-quality knife from the stand he had been peering at hungrily.

He had to frown as Evaden selected it; the knife was obviously dull, the metal nicked in places. In a fight, another weapon could easily catch and lose you your weapon. Not to mention it was shiny beyond reason, it would be a beacon to anyone if the light glinted off it just right. “Why would you want _that_ one? That’s clearly shitty craftsmanship,” Ruka couldn’t help himself, and he gestured to the bone-hilted knife, “you want something like that. Picking the right knife means knowing what you’re looking for,”

There was that victory smirk again, this was going to be a common occurrence. “Now, who said anything about my wanting one? I was merely looking at it and wondering how someone would even think of selling such shabby workmanship.” Ruka could see the blue, mismatched eyes. They were stuck on him, amused and analytical. Evaden moved to consider the bone-hilted knife, “Bone for a hilt? I hear those can rupture under the right swing,”

“Bone is strong, it takes a lot to break it. I think you’re thinking of antler, and even then, that’s pretty fucking hard to break,”

Evaden was looking back at the two knives again, nodding his head slowly as if he were lazily considering the weather. He then suddenly turned to the shopkeeper, who was just within earshot of their entire conversation, and was going slightly pink in the face. “May I inquire as to where you came across such a gem,” Evaden held up the bone knife, “when all others in your stock seem to be on the—well, rather low end of the definition of quality.”

Ruka knew that tone, it was dripping with honey but frosted at the edges. He was happy that the tone was not turned on him, as it usually was when he didn’t obey Evaden. There was a tiny prickle of satisfaction in his gut, and he could see the shopkeeper glaring at him. The vendor’s piggish face was turning from pink to red, and he could see one eyebrow twitch, the beast man’s hands were hidden in a light robe, but Ruka figured they were clenched into fists.

“Sir, my wares are of the finest quality. I’m sure your pet doesn’t know a dagger from a hunting knife if it hit him in the face,” the vendor looked back to Evaden, “He is probably trying to dissuade you. I make sure that all of my knives and weapons are in fine condition. Many have even been used in the arena by the best of champions,”

“Heh… yeah right,” Ruka said under his breath. _I bet he wouldn’t recognize one of the champions if he were say, I don’t know, standing right in front of him._ His words were quiet, mostly only heard by Evaden, and Ruka stood off to the side to watch. Someone trying to swindle Evaden? This was going to be a fun show.

“Oh? You go to the arenas a lot?” Evaden was clearly playing with the man, and Ruka heard the chuckle in his voice. Suddenly, the snake turned to him, “Ruka, be a dear and put on a bit of a show for the nice man,” He threw the first dagger at Ruka.

Seeing the flash in the air, Ruka caught the knife by the blade with ease. A wicked grin spread across his face when he flipped it over in his fingers, holding onto the hilt of it. “Oh I don’t know. I mean, such things may be wasted on someone like him, especially if he’s been in the arena, he’s probably seen everything,” He was tossing the knife now, every now and then balancing it effortlessly on the tip of a finger, before flipping it again. It always landed with the hilt in his palm, and Ruka didn’t look at it at all. He flipped it five more times and, somehow, he now had five in his hands, he started to juggle them.

“You know, I’m not really sure he would enjoy it much. I could demonstrate? See, death would be too messy, you’d have to clean up the blood from all these knives, and the piss on the ground.” Evaden was starting to mirror Ruka’s grin, for it was contagious when Ruka was actually feeling confident and, when was he ever not confident in his skills? “How about a little haircut, for a good little demonstration?” There was a flash from one of the knives, and it barely looked like Ruka had moved at all when there came a dull _THUNK!_ And one of them had sunk, hilt-deep, into the board behind the vendor’s head that held up the back of the stall. The man flinched, Ruka had shaved off a good portion of the man’s mane on his head. The man’s back was now plastered to the back of the stall, his face going from red, to white.

Evaden snickered, “Indeed, I do believe this man could use a trim,” he said, and Ruka was loosed on the man.

“Now please… do stay _still_ , because I can’t guarantee where each one will go. I’m a little rusty. Why don’t we just, relax?” Another _THUNK!_ And it had landed behind the man’s ear, just barely nicking it. A tiny stream of blood dripped down the man’s chin.

Each time a dagger hit, Ruka sheared off a little of the beast man’s fur, but had not touched his skin other than his ear. From Evaden, he could hear an honest to goodness laugh, though it was mostly under his breath with his shoulders shaking. Somehow, Ruka was goaded on with the laugh, and he was brimming with strength. There was a small crowd gathering around them, and each time Ruka managed a perfect shot–which was every time, let’s be honest—they would clap.

Now, Ruka had the bone knife in one hand, and the shoddy one in the other. He flipped the poor one over, before he sneered and tossed it. It landed squarely between the man’s legs. If Ruka had aimed just a little bit higher, the man wouldn’t have been siring any children. “What do you think?” Ruka turned to look at Evaden, still tossing the bone-knife.

“I think I could make some money off your trick shots,” the laughter was still bubbling from Evaden as he looked to the vendor. The man had regained some of his dignity when Ruka had finished and had started pulling out the daggers. When the one they had been calling ‘shoddy’ broke from its blade, Evaden couldn’t seem to help a loud outburst of short laughter that had some people glancing their way. Even Ruka looked at him in surprise, but he never lost his smirk.

Approaching the stall again, Evaden held out his hand for the bone-knife from Ruka, “Now, my good sir. You and I both know half of these are stolen from the arena trash, and are daggers used to the point of worthlessness. Not only are you stealing from people by selling these, but actually stealing a dagger from the town blacksmith? A beast man bigger than a house, with an anger that matches the strength he wields his hammers?” He held up the bone-knife, and the man’s face paled even further, even though Ruka had thought he couldn’t go any farther. “My word, what would he do if he found that you ended up with one of his good daggers?”

They had created a little scene, and Ruka usually wouldn’t have liked having all the eyes on him. Yet, for once, they weren’t on just him and, they weren’t in hunger or lust. He could feel that twist in his gut tighten, but it felt the way he did when he was fighting in the arena. It felt good.

“Now, I can make this all go away. These people will talk, and word will get around and end up in the ears of this lovely blacksmith, Mino. The next customer you will be dealing with will be a strong hammer to the face,” Evaden seemed to let that sink in before he gracefully picked up a cloth from the stall and wrapped up the bone-dagger, “Or, in good faith, you give me this dagger and when Mino hears about this, you will not have it on hand like a fool.” He tilted his head, a slow hum coming from him, “I may even drop a word or two to get you a better job, repayment can be discussed later. Good day.” Evaden handed the bundled dagger to Ruka, and left without so much as a glance back.

Unable to suppress the smug grin on his face, following behind Evaden holding the wrapped knife in his hand but hardly realizing it. When he had been on the streets as a child, he had earned money from doing knife tricks, and though he was a little rusty as he had said, he was still sharp as a pin when it came to precision and aim. He had almost laughed himself when the cheap knife broke, and his grin had only gotten wider as Evaden had taken over. Sounded as if that vendor had chosen the wrong pair to attempt to swindle.

“Well,” he said when they were well out of earshot, “That was fun. This blacksmith of yours sounds damn intimidating, I thought that man was going to shit his pants the minute you mentioned his name,” he tilted his head, the earring beneath his hood flashing subtly in the sunlight.

“The blacksmith that people know about is the stand-in, the real blacksmith of legends is someone else. Mino just acts as the front man because no one would believe that the real one was able to do the job as well as she does.” He tilted his head in contemplation, “A rather nice woman, but her husband is someone you do not want to cross,”

A woman? Ruka hadn’t heard much about this supposed blacksmith of legend, but the name and mention was enough to get the crowd whispering back there. He was interested, but he didn’t say anything else about it. Female blacksmiths weren’t uncommon, though it was more uncommon for one to be properly recognized in the world now. Ruka didn’t really care, as long as he had a good weapon, it didn’t matter to him who made it; man, woman, or otherwise.

“Good show, by the way. Glad I did not have to tell you not to kill him, but I bet there is a mess to clean up in his trousers,” Evaden smirked.

He snorted, “I don’t kill outside the arena unless I have too. I also don’t like to kill when I’m in public, too much extra drama.” Ruka shrugged it off as best as he could, and went on with Evaden. “Thanks, but I think he can take care of himself. He’s a big doggy, after all.”

“Ah yes, well I think we should be putting you to work as a performer now as well, we can earn some extra coin this way,” Of course Evaden was already on to the next money-making scheme, Ruka nearly smiled and shook his head in disbelief.

“Really? Are we going to be making money on the side of the road now? I mean, it’s just what I did to earn pennies for food. I really don’t think my knife-throwing will make you much,” They were already heading out of town, apparently Evaden’s business completed. Ruka followed behind casually, not kowtowing like the many other pets he saw, who lowered their postures and eyes.

“Maybe not on the side of the road, but if you started using some trick shots in the pits your fame could grow,” he could see the avaricious glint in the snake’s eyes, “Then I could charge more for your appearances.”

Ruka let out a guffaw of laughter, “Greedy.”

Evaden merely went on, “As for dancing, I think I would enjoy watching that,” the eyes turned to Ruka with a playful smirk, “But not so much to get coin from others,”

“You would, huh? Well, too bad. I only dance for paying customers, not snakes with no control on their impulses,” a pointed look showed his defences were still up, even though they were actually on solid ground for once. He only got a closely guarded look from Evaden as he passed Ruka the water skin, and he took it with a small nod.

There was a silence, then Evaden cocked his head with his gaze calm, “What if I said I would not touch you until you asked me to?”

To say he was surprised, was an understatement. Ruka had to stop in the middle of his drink, and in his shock some precious water trickled and dribbled down his chin and throat as if he were drunk. It took him a moment to remember himself, and Ruka spluttered, coughing until he could catch his breath once more. He could see the smug look from the snake but somehow, he was still too surprised to really care at the moment.

 _He won’t touch me? Not unless I ask?_ Ruka stared directly at him, looking for the trick. He searched, practically begged to be able to find any hint of deception or lie, but nothing was readable.

_Bullshit._

Before Ruka could even call him out on it, Evaden had taken back the water skin and they continued on through the buildings. They were started to thin, and the wide path of the desert was in front of them. Ruka could recognize it now, where before he wouldn’t have been able to see, the path that was only known to nagas and other beasts of the desert. All he could do right now was follow behind in a slight stupor.

 

* * *

 

“I need to take a detour, just to check on something,” the words over his shoulder after a while made Ruka look up. They had been walking for some time in silence, and had come to a part of the desert he didn’t recognize from their usual path home. He merely shrugged in reply, he really had no choice but to follow right now.

They headed over a less-used path, and soon there was no path at all. Walking and slithering over the dunes, they went up and down, then up again. The sun was warm on the soles of Ruka’s simple sandals, and the heat was baking them slowly beneath their hoods, but still the snake went on. It wasn’t until they came to some strangely shaped dunes that Evaden stopped. The dunes were in strange rows, instead of irregular swirls and waves. To many, they would seem like just odd dunes, as they were to Ruka. Instead, Evaden seemed incredibly fixated on them, and Ruka watched with a bored gaze.

Until Evaden swerved about, and brushed some of the sand away. Instead of a handful, a whole segment of the dune about the size of a man, fell away with a hiss. Beneath it, there was a glint of something shiny and, black? It was flat, and completely smooth. Ruka frowned, and as the sand fell away he saw that it was a perfect rectangle, and that there was a second one next to it.

Ancient glass.

Lasting, or ancient, glass was one of the most valuable things in the world, coveted by greedy merchants and money-hoarders alike, and here was a whole two sheets of it the size of a full-grown man. Evaden didn’t seem opposed to him seeing it, so he approached and peered at it. From where he was, Ruka could see through the glass into a space beyond it that was a room. Ruka could see strange shapes, halls and what appeared to be strange desks and boxes. There was sand inside, from sources he couldn’t see. The dark in the far away halls made it hard to see, and the only light source was the small gap that Ruka was now staring through.

“Where are we? Are these the glass ruins that people talk about? This could be worth a fortune, Evaden,” he looked, and Evaden, his business clearly finished, was pushing sand back over it, “Why are you covering it up?” Glass in itself was common enough, hell the world was a fucking desert, one would think it would be easy to make. Yet, the glass-makers now didn’t know how to make it last, only how to make it into thin ornaments and pretty baubles. There had once been entire buildings made of glass, a kind of glass that was so strong it couldn’t be broken easily. Ruka had heard stories of them, even seen a shard of it on someone’s belt, but had never seen one whole building before. Let alone a remnant of one.

“If ever I need fast money, I do just that and sell some of it. If you flood the market with the stuff, then sooner or later it will be worthless,” the snake tucked Ruka’s hair behind one ear, and the human realized how close he was to the snake all of a sudden. Evaden made no other moves on him and, instead, drew a strange symbol in the sand. The sand trembled, and moved up the glass window, covering it in thick sheets until it was as it had been before, a strangely shaped dune. “In the meantime, I use it as a storage space.”

Ruka was thinking, he didn’t know much about the markets but what Evaden made sense. Though, you’d still have all that money from being the first to sell it. He mentally batted the thoughts away, he wasn’t a merchant so it wasn’t his problem. “Storing what? It looked like a maze in there,”

“I thought you didn’t want to know?”

Caught. “I don’t. It was a logical question, I don’t really care what you do out in the desert,” he crossed his arms.

“Logical indeed, if you don’t care then I have no need to explain. However,” the snake was infuriating, “it is a shame, a man can get rich off of knowing how the markets work and using that to his benefit. You seem inquisitive enough, though. Tell me, what are you thinking? I ask, for I wish to know how best to explain it to you, should I need you to fetch me this in the future,”

A lesson in the business habits of snakes, how fascinating. Ruka’s curiosity got the better of him anyways, and he asked, “What are those ruins, and what the hell did you use to hide them?”

“Those ruins? Who knows what used to stand there. They have been there throughout the ages, older than anything identified. All that is holding them up now is magic and steel bones,” Evaden motioned for him to follow, and they headed back the way they had come, the dunes vanishing behind them into the desert. “What I use to hide them is a spell. Magic is, after all, something you should be quite used to by now. After all, it binds you to me. It is also what gives my people the supremacy over the Burj Almiah and the ability to make its waters come forth, the city of Al Daw would be no better than a human settlement without it,”

All the sudden names swirled around his head, and Ruka frowned at them. He had heard ‘Burj Almiah’ before, and now that Evaden had hinted at it being associated with water, he had guessed it was that massive tower of water he had gone to that afternoon.

It wasn’t until a moment later that he noticed that Evaden was still talking, “Veysra depends on the water from the mages. My people are attuned to magic, the beast men have their brute strength, and you humans have a ‘can do’ attitude. Everyone has their place,” Ruka couldn’t help but think this was a low, hidden jab at his own position, but Evaden was moving on. “We naga can learn a skill more quickly than others, who would need to study for years to just cast a mere fire spell. Though, some snakes are born without these abilities, and are a shame to the families who bore such children. There is little love between blood to begin with, so it isn’t as harsh as you think,”

“My father fucked me. I don’t think that your meaning of harsh constitutes mine.”

Ruka couldn’t help it, he was prickling again. He wanted to make sure that Evaden wouldn’t look down on him, or think of him as too soft to handle some minor, petty ideas about family.

“Of course not.”

The look Evaden threw him had ground the conversation to a halt, and Ruka looked away with a shrug, his face feeling warm. They didn’t speak much more after that, but somehow the tension started to ease a little faster than before. Ruka didn’t understand how he was angry, perhaps it was the mention of humans in Evaden’s explanation, maybe it was because they had been getting along for the better part of the afternoon. That was frightening to Ruka.

He saw the grin as they came up to the desert ruin, “Why don’t you go put away your new knife and bring up some dinner from storage for tonight?”

Ruka blinked, “What…?”

“Your new dagger, I will assume that you wish to put it away?”

He wasn’t sure if he could trust what he had heard. Ruka looked to his hand where he had been carrying the bone-hilt dagger, wrapped in red cloth. “It’s… mine?”

“Well of course it is, I have no use for it,” Evaden waved him away.

A tiny smirk tugged at Ruka’s mouth, “Who _are_ you?” He couldn’t hide the humor that came out in his tone, and he didn’t stay to see Evaden’s reaction to it. The human went back to the bedroom and, carefully, placed his dagger next to the other one he had, the one that Evaden let him use for hunting and for pit fights. It was simple and plain compared to the bone-dagger, but they both made quite a pair.

He was bringing up a scrawny pair of desert hares when he saw Evaden lounging by the oasis in full sun, his tail dipped into the water. Ruka sat down nearby and started a fire in the pit that he usually used now for cooking food. Evaden hadn’t had one before, why should he if he ate things raw? Ruka had dug it himself, and was already stoking some nice embers by the time he would have to start skinning and preparing the meat.

“Careful, or you’re going to burn. I’m not slathering aloe all over you if you do,” he said offhandedly, earning a chuckle from beside him.

“Snakes do not burn, idiot. You, however, undoubtedly will,”

“Fuck off.” But he was laughing.

 

* * *

 

“Ruka,” He felt something shaking his shoulder, and stubbornly ignored it. That is, until he felt it again, that annoying nudge to his shoulder that made Ruka growl into the pillow. “Ruka, wake up.”

He shifted, knowing that it was probably Evaden just making a regular ass of himself, as usual. It wouldn’t be the first time that he had woken Ruka in the middle of the night just because he wanted more heat, or something to stick his cock into. He still ignored the nudges, it was way too early for this. He had been in the pits the night before and Ruka was dog-tired, and he was bold enough to ignore his so-called ‘master’ when he was.

“Ruka.” The whisper sounded in his ear, closer now. Ruka groggily frowned, it didn’t sound like Evaden was looking to mount him, though Ruka had been tricked before and he was wary. The tone, however, had a kind of almost child-like excitement to it, and that made Ruka shift a little and sleepily open his eyes.

“What?”

“Listen.” Evaden was lying on his stomach beside him, and Ruka could see faintly in the dark that he was staring out towards the small windows in the walls.

That’s when he heard it.

The soft patter against the walls, and the torrential splatter against the roof. Ruka could smell the scent petrichor in the air as the cool breeze managed to worm its way into the room. He felt Evaden shift his scales closer to him beneath the thin blankets, as if subconsciously he was seeking out warmth without thinking of it. Ruka could smell the air, and somehow it made him fell calm. That faint, but sharp smell of wet sand and dirt; the sound of it bombarding the building in waves, and the far-away sound of approaching thunder. It was a rare thing, rain in the desert. Perhaps it was why Evaden had roused him so, because it was such an uncommon occurrence.

Still in the fog of his sleep, Ruka rested his head on the pillow and let out a soft sigh as he started to drop back into sleep. “It sounds nice…” he muttered quietly, feeling Evaden shift closer to him. “It… reminds me of home.” With that, Ruka fell asleep again, and Evaden would nestle close to him once more, only to find that Ruka’s cheeks were oddly damp with tears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! So the next update is here!!
> 
> Woah... BlackSheep240 (loveless987 on tumblr) and I are really getting excited with this story guys! We're getting serious about it, actually, and are planning hopefully to publish it. 
> 
> Therefore, we would adore your feedback, let us know how we're doing and if you enjoy the story! We both love to hear what people think, and we're both super friendly guys~! Feel free to leave a comment here, or even come poke us on our tumblrs!
> 
> See you in the next update!


	12. Polite Insults

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: coarse language  
> See notes at the end of the chapter for a special announcement!!

Time passed easily enough, it always did in the desert. Ruka fell into a routine with Evaden that could almost constitute as normal, if one wanted to call it that. The snake would get up earlier in the morning to sunbathe, since the hot weather was starting to really set in. Ruka hated being out in the heat and, no matter how much Evaden would manipulate him through the earring, he still took his time when he had to drag himself out of any form of shade. 

Ruka went with Evaden to different parts of the desert, not just the city of Al Daw, following the naga as he met with contacts. Sometimes it would be just Evaden and the contact, talking quietly to one another about agreements, sometimes the contact would bring a slave with them. Ruka would ignore the slaves usually, and avoid them if they started showing too much interest in him while the masters spoke. Ruka noticed, by now, the growing pattern of those that Evaden met, in private rooms or out in the desert. These days each contact had a theme to their clothing, most dressed in reds. Those contacts were usually the same man or woman meeting them, usually the woman who was large and almost thuggish, but with a fast tongue and a quick glint in her gaze that spoke of something too close to the way Ruka looked sometimes. A joy in killing. Any assassin, or former one, could recognize that look. 

The man that they would sometimes meet was slighter, and would talk with Evaden only when he was sure that Ruka could not overhear them. Usually when Evaden, infuriatingly, told Ruka to wait in an opposite room for him. Why bring him along then? After the first time he had been brought to a meeting, and had been punished for fighting back against the slave, Ruka just ground his teeth and left, wanting nothing to do with whatever Evaden was tangling himself in. 

Then, there were the people dressed in blue, their men changing more than once whenever they met. There were people also dressed in white, and didn’t seem to care if Ruka overheard or not, Evaden usually met them out in the desert to be discreet. Ruka would overhear things, even though he tried not to; snippets of princes and princesses, their movements and dealings, and news of the aging king and queen in Al Daw. He watched each transaction with veiled interest, and though he would pay attention he meant to appear completely disinterested in the whole affair. If Evaden wanted to tangle himself in a web, so be it, but he wanted to be able to keep an eye out for any curves that these deals could throw that might affect him, directly or indirectly. He wasn’t going to be dragged down into this mess, Ruka was going to make sure that he survived.

At each meeting, Ruka noticed that Evaden would make sure to wear a face-painted mask, one that would crack at the slightest hint of emotion. He would watch as not even any cracks would appear in it as he spoke to his contacts, but as they left he would let his face relax just a little bit. It was an odd thing to watch.

Throughout the months, Ruka watched as blue, violet, white, green, orange, red, and black, all passed by with business for Evaden. Scrolls passed from robe to hood, message books or keys to boxes that Ruka never saw the contents of. He saw bags of gold, or a box with something that would be traded later for something else. They even returned to the ancient glass ruins, mostly to drop off a box or pick one up, usually Ruka had to carry the heavy things. Sometimes they would pick up the thick glass from another mound, and Evaden would sell it for extra money, but nothing more. The heat of the summer would be ending soon, and that meant that Evaden also had Ruka running about preparing for a cold winter out in the desert.

Ruka woke one morning to find himself unsurprisingly alone in bed with a bottle of water beside him and a plate of food. That meant a day out, probably to the markets of Al Daw, Ruka sighed and swung his legs over the edge of the bed as he stretched.

The bazaar was just as busy as ever, with merchants shouting and displaying new goods here and there. The smells of spices and cooking foods from some of the stalls were so overpowering that they almost added their own kind of noise to the din of the market. Ruka had become so accustomed to it that he weaved and moved without even thinking about it, carrying bundles or bags as Evaden went about his shady business for the day. The tower of the Burj Almiah glittered in the midmorning sun in the almost center of the city, and Ruka recalled the cool water that flowed from it.

He watched throughout the day while Evaden did his usual, going to a few alleys and pulling out stones and placing things inside before they would continue. Ruka acted as a glorified lookout, making sure no one else was watching. They were just coming out the other side of the alleyway when someone called out to Evaden, and the both wanted to roll their eyes as they recognized the voice.

Turning, Ruka saw Abel approaching them. His entourage following behind in their horrendously suggestive outfits, though Ruka did notice that the big brute that had thrown the rock at him was missing. That made him grin a little. 

“Abel. My, I did not see you there. How are you faring this fine day?” Ruka heard the ice in the words, like chips from a frozen stream.

“Evaden, always so polite. I wonder how much of it is really true,” Abel’s words were darker than the last time they spoke, and he was acting a little less cocky and more serious. Now _that_ was definitely a change.

A snort, “Do you expect anything else from our kind, Abel? You of all people should know of how far truth can travel, eajiz?” That last word was one that Ruka didn’t understand, and Evaden said it as if it were no more than a passing breeze. Yet Abel did understand it, and he seemed to grow red in the face at it. Even Abel’s slaves backed away just a little bit, afraid of the fight bristling between the two nagas. 

It took a slow, painful moment for Abel to force himself to relax, and he slid a little closer to Evaden. He was using his bigger bulk to try and intimidate Evaden, “Reduced to name calling? My, Evaden I think you have spent far too long alone in the desert away from the rest of your kind. After all, you have no proof for that claim and, I think it would be in your best interest to remain that way.” The snake shrugged, and as if that were a signal, two of his female slaves moved to wrap their arms around each of Abel’s to share their warmth. A pleased smile spread across the snake’s teeth, and Ruka nearly grimaced.

“What would you know of my best interests, Abel? You and I both know that, out of the two of us, who the better one is,” he was still close enough that Evaden could reach up a hand and gently push a stray hair from one of the girl’s faces, her eyes respectfully lowered beneath long lashes, “New girls? I take it the pits have not been treating your pets very well, what a shame,” He began to turn away from the larger snake, his eyes hooded, “Mine _thrives.”_

A motion from Evaden and Ruka was following him, but they were brought up short when the bigger snake hissed. Ruka caught a glimpse of his face before Evaden stopped, and then it was filled with pure, uncontrollable rage that let him bare his teeth and snarl like some animal. He caught Evaden’s wrist and hissed out slowly, “Nothing you touch will ever thrive, Evaden. The sands of time move forward, and the wind is changing to another’s favour. You have yet to pick a side, and that will end badly for you,” The flash of light against a band on Abel’s arm caught Ruka’s gaze. A blue band of metal, locked between two thinner bands of silver wrapped about his bicep, showing the curve of muscle and the shift of his arm.

The tension was so taught that Ruka was even worried to breathe, lest a fight break out between the two of them. His senses were going into overdrive and he felt like he was in the arena, itching for a blade at his side so badly that his fingers twitched restlessly. If Evaden died, so did he, and Ruka wasn’t about to die over some stupid argument that he didn’t even understand.

Suddenly, the atmosphere lessened, and Evaden had reached up and removed Abel’s hand from his wrist. “Here I thought the Prince of Blue had more pride than this,” the words were monotonous, without any kind of signalling emotion that could give away Evaden’s reaction. Instead, he merely nodded his head and moved on, snaking ahead of Ruka. “Until next time, Abel.”

Ruka had to spur himself to move after that, his muscles were ready for a fight and, since none happened, had to move on to the menial task of walking. He followed Evaden, but spared a glance up to Abel, and regretted it. The big snake’s gaze was locked onto Ruka, but it wasn’t lustful or hungry like others. It was purely murderous.

For once, Ruka felt a quick jolt of fear go up his spine. Instead of showing the naga how he was affected, though, he returned the look with a deadly glare of his own. Let him know that if he was going to start something, that Ruka was going to _end_ it, fuck it if Evaden had to drag him off Abel’s bleeding corpse and strike him to keep him in control. If punches flew, then Ruka would react, until then he would wait for Abel to either make or break himself.

Turning and leaving, Ruka felt the burn of eyes in his back, and walked with ramrod-straight confidence. He caught up to Evaden and fell into step just to his side, feeling confident and gritty at the same time.

“What was all that about?” It was the first thing he had said all day.

“What was what?”

“All of that shit,” Ruka tilted his head backwards over his shoulder.

There was a short sound from Evaden, his face still completely emotionless, “Abel is angry at things that he cannot control. It is nothing new, so why are you surprised? Do you mean the name I used, or the threats I made?”

Ruka had to huff a laugh at that, “You’re not exactly being subtle. I’d say surprised at how differently _he_ was acting. He’s never openly challenged you before, only used his pets to do it while he hangs back. It’s suspicious at least, I’m surprised that you haven’t commented on it,” 

“I am not trying to be subtle with him, not with someone like Abel,” the returning glint in Evaden’s gaze was enough for Ruka to quirk his head, “I have been chipping away at his resources, and he is losing a lot of support as a result. I was surprised that the Blue Prince had taken him under his employ, but that is not my concern. His lashing out is to be expected, I am just surprised he did it out in the open,” there was a tiny smile tugging at Evaden’s mouth, but it didn’t go further than a twitch, “He is losing his mask. If he moves against me I have enough dirt on him to make _sure_ that he meets you in the pits, if I so wanted,” 

That purr in his voice made Ruka uneasy, though the thought of tearing Abel apart in the pits, with a live and captivated audience sounded appealing. Especially after that damned look. “If you expected him to lash out, then perhaps it would be good to have that dirt ready. That look he gave you was anything but amorous,” he made no mention of the look he had specifically given Ruka, it wasn’t really that new. The human was merely used to the lustful eyes raking over him, that the hateful gaze had been a jolt. Or so he told himself.

“My dear, sweet assassin, you do not _just_ dig up the dirt. You let others do it and let them connect the dots.” The crowds around them were starting to thin, and the morning warmth was giving away to afternoon heat, yet another scorching day that Ruka would rather spend in the shade. “True, it takes a touch longer for others to work it out, but there is less implementation on us. Abel’s standing in any political or lawful front will fall apart if he makes a move against a lawful citizen such as myself. I have tied a cord around the legs of his foundation, and tied the other end on his hand, he will destroy himself,” that thought seemed to please Evaden. He wasn’t looking at Ruka, he seemed to be lost in his own words.

Ruka had to scoff in his head, of course he was.

“Lawful citizen…” dryly.

Evaden turned and his eyes were heavy and dark, “It is sweet that you worry for me, my Ruka,” 

“Hah! Worry? I just don’t want to die because you decided to piss the wrong person off!”

“Mhmm…” That musical hum had Ruka bristling, but he ignored it as he often tried to. They went through the edges of the market, stopping once more for Evaden to meet another snake and slip something up his robe while talking jovially as if they were the best of friends.

This could turn dangerous very, _very_ fast. Ruka could feel an unstable tremble beneath his feet that had nothing to do with the ground itself, but all to do with the snake that had him locked around his little finger. He couldn’t help but feel that same sense of frantic fear rising in his throat, that same feeling he had felt when he had tried running from Evaden the very first time they had met. It wasn’t like he was afraid of dying, Ruka told himself that he wasn’t afraid of anything, anything living anyways. Death wasn’t what frightened him, no, it was dying because of someone else’s mistakes. If he was going to die, it would be because _he_ had slipped up, not because of some self-indulgent, self-confident, over-stuffed snake.

When they got home to the ruins in the desert, Ruka went about his usual business with a reserved air. He ignored Evaden the best he could, he categorized everything that had happened in his usual manner and had to pause. Why did Abel look at him? Abel hadn’t looked at Ruka the last time, not _truly._ He had seen a piece of ass, something that was more akin to livestock or a prized necklace. This time, he had glared at Ruka as if he were some kind of threat, or something that was in his way, something he had to remove.

Even as Evaden nuzzled into him that night, pushing his still resisting body and breaking down his will, Ruka could feel that looming sense of dread. Something was coming, and he wasn’t sure what side to expect it from.

He would have to be patient, and wait for the dagger to come out of the shadows, and deal with what came with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Here's the next update! BlackSheep240 (loveless987 on tumblr) and I have been working really hard, and so far we are planning to do an update every month, hopefully on the 14th of every month. Next month will maybe be a double-post since I like to post something for the holidays every year~
> 
> I also have a fun question for you all: would you be interested in a Desert Butterfly Redbubble store, and possibly an Etsy? Where you can buy stuff with art and such from the story? (maybe even a replica of Ruka's earring~) Let me and BlackSheep240 know! 
> 
> Also, we'd really love to hear your feedback, we're super friendly so feel free to leave a comment or chat with us here, or on tumblr!! <3 See you in the next update everyone!


	13. The Daggers in the Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: coarse language, attempted assault, violence.

The arena became the place that Ruka would let out his frustration, where he would be able to finally take out all his anger on one, or more, opponents. At first, he killed quickly, and since his beginning matches, mostly due to Evaden’s instruction but also to some point of his own merit, he started to draw them out. He made a game of each match, playing with his opponent and sometimes letting it appear that he was losing, only to turn things around at the last minute and finish the match.

Ever since the match where he had faced the big mountain man, the one where Evaden had apparently grown jealous, Ruka was rarely ever put into a non-death match. He was ruthless, like a cat with a mouse, and he often grew creative with how he killed. His fame was starting to grow, especially to a point where Evaden would receive challenges now and then from some nagas, wanting to pit their best fighters against Ruka. Sometimes these were death matches, some were merely duels until one couldn’t stand anymore, sometimes they were other but they were few and far between.

So, it wasn’t suspicious at all when Evaden had a challenge one morning, from a high-standing naga wanting to pit their pet against Ruka in the arena. The type of match would be specified upon arrival, and it would be one-on-one.

Ruka waited in the center of the sand-covered arena, armed with the bone-hilt dagger and nothing else. The fight itself had been specified as a no-kill, but they were allowed to maim each other, at least that was a small pleasure. Evaden had already gotten comfortable up in one of the private boxes overlooking one of the best spots of the arena, the box low and close to where the fighting would take place.

Evaden lounged lazily on a cushioned bench, waving away a pit slave, one trained to entertain the higher-paying customers with their attentions. It was a good way to earn money, for their masters. Evaden snorted when the slave pouted gently, big eyes looking at him, he tipped her and sent her on her way.

“Well, you actually showed up! This is a surprise,” Evaden turned to see Abel approaching him, laying his thicker tail over an adjoining bench, his other slaves draping about him in sprawling limbs or muscular bulk.

The snake frowned back, “Abel, so nice to see you,” he didn’t make to rise and greet him, “Please, do take a seat.” He narrowed his eyes, “What brings you here?”

“I came to see a show, what else?”

Back down in the pits, the doors opened to reveal the challenger’s pet, and out strode someone familiar to Ruka. The human frowned at the opposing man, built thickly and a little taller than Ruka. He had a sudden memory of a rock thrown, a sore jaw, and a bruised eye.

 _“You’re_ the challenger?” Ruka snorted at Abel’s slave, he shook his head and threw up his arms in disbelief, “Just name me the winner and let’s be done with this,”

“Oh, but that’s not the name of the game precious. Don’t you look lovely today,” the slave grinned, cocking the knife in his hand.

A cold sweat ran down Ruka’s spine and he couldn’t help but bare his teeth, “Evaden has specified that I not take part in fights like this,”

“Too bad,” the curt answer caught him off guard, “If you’re master backs down, there goes his precious reputation. Now, why don’t you get ready to make some pretty moans for the audience, because there’s no way I’m letting you go without getting _something_ for my troubles,”

“How’s the head? Brain still jarred?”

Cool laughter, “Jest all you want, precious, because I’ll have my cock in you with you begging for more before this fight is through.”

Up in the stands, Evaden’s eyes had hardened, and flashed to Abel before going back to the arena. “What a cute pet you have. He seems familiar, though it is a good thing that this is not a death match, or my Ruka would have left you with one less pet,”

“Oh, come off it, Evaden. You don’t give compliments unless you’re truly miffed,” Abel leaned back, clearly confident that his pet had nothing to worry about. Perhaps he didn’t. “I’ve heard of your pet’s prowess, but let’s just say mine knows a thing or two about getting another to open their legs.” 

Below, Ruka shifted his weight just a fraction. They waited for the scarf to drop and for the fight to start, and Ruka was just _waiting_ for a chance to really tear into this cocky bastard. He wanted it so badly that he could practically taste the blood on his tongue, and he was practically chomping at the bit, almost ready to go and yank the white cloth from the referee.

The scarf dropped and the slave came at him faster than he expected. Ruka dodged to the side but the slave caught his pants and tripped him up, that was simple enough. The man didn’t immediately get to climb on top of Ruka, for the human was ready to roll to the side. Instead, the other slave made a slash at Ruka with his knife. Having to recalculate in seconds, Ruka rolled a different way and the blade barely just nicked his arm. He retaliated with his own dagger and managed to catch the other slave in the calf, watching the satisfying steady flow of blood down the back of his leg. It wasn’t deep enough to hinder much, but it was enough to make Ruka feel a little better. The other slave didn’t seem bothered, but continued to go after Ruka the same way Ruka would with a larger opponent, taking his time.

 _Damn bastard must have watched my fights before!_ Ruka cursed in his head when the slave would block some of the moves that Ruka would use against an opponent of this size and calibre. Ruka started to feel frustration bubble under his skin, but was able to quaff it as he started to channel it into his focus. His world narrowed, but he had to hold up. There were so many openings for a kill that it was almost torturous, he knew that he couldn’t kill the other, and so did the pet. Ruka ducked another lash as it landed a cut across his cheek that bled hot into his mouth. Two seconds later the slave feinted to the right, then suddenly tackled Ruka’s left. They both landed on the hard-packed sand floor of the arena and Ruka’s head spun, he could taste blood in his mouth and his muscles felt heavy. The crowd cheered, and he couldn’t tell if it was for him or for the other slave. His tongue felt heavy and metallic, and _slow._

That was when he tasted the poison.

Up in Evaden’s box, Abel smirked, “It probably won’t last much longer. Your pet is in for a fun ride, Evaden.” As he spoke, the slave in the arena had somehow unlaced himself and was rolling against Ruka, who was dazed. 

“Now that’s a fucking low trick.” Ruka hissed

The slave, thinking he had won, smirked down at Ruka, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Now why don’t you make those pretty sounds for the crowd? I hear your master doesn’t like to share, so it should be interesting for him to be forced to watch another slave fuck you in front of a crowd,” The slave wrenched Ruka’s pants down and pressed to him. Ruka hazily could see that his attention was now divided now, but his own body wouldn’t move the way he wanted it too. He felt slow, his reflexes lethargic. He tried to struggle, but the other slave didn’t like that and hissed, and drove his dagger down into Ruka’s shoulder to earn a low grunt from the other as he tried to block the searing pain as best he could. “Lie back, and enjoy it.”

Ruka’s mind went blank as the knife in his shoulder was jarred, the poison wasn’t only immobilizing him, it was enhancing the pain. Fear jolted through him, the dosage had been too high. His head was reeling, and his vision was going strange and fuzzy around the edges. The only thing he knew was that he had to win the fight, he had to get this slave _off._  

He dug down, far into the last reserves of his energy and it felt like he was digging through thick, cold molasses. The poison made his head spin, but he used his iron will, the same that he usually reserved for when Evaden made advances on him, and forced himself to ignore and fight past it. With a surge of energy that was more willpower than strength, he used his legs to grip the slave’s neck, earning a grunt from him. Thinking that Ruka was complying, the slave’s face changed as he realized that Ruka’s legs weren’t moving. He struggled for a moment, before Ruka grabbed him by the hair. Gods his body was so heavy, even sitting up was an extreme effort. “No one… gets me… that… easily… fucker.” He twisted and yanked, before he heaved his hips to the side so that he would end up straddling his opponent. Ruka slammed his fist into the slave’s temple, and knocked him out cold.

Ruka stood shakily and fixed his clothes, his heartbeat pounding in his chest and ears. It was too fast, and he wanted desperately to vomit. He tried to put out a hand in front of him to stabilize himself, but there was nothing in front of him. A stumble, and in the back of his mind he screamed that he couldn’t faint. He knew that he couldn’t pass out or he’d lose his reputation, he would lose that role of ‘undefeated’ and they would have to meet here again. His knees trembled and he sank to them, panting heavily while his vision thickened and his head swam dangerously close to blackness.

 _Stand up._ He growled at his legs. _Work! Stand up!_

Sweat and blood dripped from his face, and he could hear the silent murmurs in the crowd, but it sounded almost like it was underwater. Blinking the grit from his eyes, Ruka used the very last ounce of his strength to stand up slowly, straightening up to a thunderous roar from the crowd.

Did Evaden know about the poison? No, he couldn’t have, Ruka knew that it wasn’t allowed in the arena. He may have been a slave to Evaden, but he was valuable to the snake. Evaden wouldn’t have risked him for some petty argument with a cheating snake, or at least Ruka hoped. His mind was breaking up, and that urge to retch came back. He swallowed, and spat dryly on the ground.

Once declared the winner, Ruka let an arena slave help him off the field. He walked mostly on his own, until he entered the shade of the passageways beneath the stands. The slave received most of his weight, and helped him back to the same preparation room he had been in on his very first fights. Ruka collapsed in the cell, breathing heavily while his vision spotted black. He tried to call the slave to get help, but no words came from his mouth. His tongue felt fat and useless, and he was going to vomit. Ruka wasn’t sure if he had, before he finally fell onto his side against the wall, shaking while the poison took its effect on him.

 

* * *

 

Ruka couldn’t tell how long had passed, but he was still in the arena cell. He had somehow been moved to the bench, and his shoulder was bandaged messily, the white linens going dark with blood and slightly tinged with green from the poison. He breathed as if through a straw, shallow and heavy. He couldn’t seem to focus on anything, the world seemed to be a blur of colour and light, all movement looking blurry with only a slight outline, like some milky watercolour painting. There were people talking nearby, very close in fact. His ears picked up a voice over him, just above his head, and he recognized it. It sounded like Evaden, but he was shouting, he was angry. Fuck, what had Ruka done _now?_ Couldn’t Evaden just let him rest for a second? How was he supposed to know there was poison on that damn knife?

Yet, the shouting he realized, wasn’t at him. There was someone else in the room, a beast man that Ruka could fuzzily see was the referee from the arena. Why was he here?

He tried to turn his head, and he thought that he felt scales under his cheek, now that was odd. There was a cool hand against his face and over his forehead, stroking his hair slowly. Ruka could feel his warm skin prickle at the touch, and his mind started to dull again.

“You are going to have to rest, we will be remaining in town for a while.” Was that Evaden talking? Ruka felt warmth come from the earring in his left ear, and it wrapped around him like a blanket, “Sleep a little longer, butterfly.” Ruka didn’t need to be told twice, he fell back into unconsciousness, and stayed there this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BlackSheep240 and I are so excited to bring you this chapter! We've been waiting for a long time to get to this part of the story, and things will be picking up after this. 
> 
> As I said last month, we will update every 14th of every month (unless something major comes up!) and we're getting serious about this story so any feedback would be absolutely wonderful! Since this month is December, and in just one more week we have Christmas, I'll be doing a second chapter posting at midnight on Christmas Eve! See you all then and happy holidays!!
> 
> The plot thickens...


	14. New

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: coarse language, forced sex, use of aphrodisiacs, threesomes, double penetration.

He felt sluggish and sore, his limbs heavy like lead. Waking slowly to bright sunlight in his eyes, Ruka could feel a soft breeze brushing his cheek. He could also feel the grit in his eyes, and taste a horrible, foul taste in his mouth. Shifting lead to a painful cry of discomfort from his nerves, so he made sure to do it in small increments. As his senses came back to him, Ruka realized that he was resting on something that felt like silk. That wasn’t what he remembered before he passed out. Then again, he could only remember fuzzy outlines of what had happened before because his head was aching terribly. He frowned, since when had there been so much light in the pit cells?

Ruka moved again and immediately felt a dull pain in his left shoulder. It was almost like he had been—stabbed! Ruka’s eyes flew open and he stiffened, stopping himself from bolting upright and causing more damage before he had a chance to catalogue it all first. The fight in the arena, it had been poison that had been on the slave’s blade, and poison that had knocked him out. No wonder he was feeling slow. Then his frown deepened, if he had been poisoned then how had he survived? He had been completely incapacitated by it, not to mention delirious as a drunken man. So how? Ruka pressed a hand to his forehead, the one that wasn’t attached to the sore shoulder.

He then took a quick stock of his body; everything from his sore shoulder to his knees. He had all his limbs, so that was a bonus. His left shoulder was clean and tightly bandaged in fresh linen that smelled of herbs. The rest of him seemed to be no more worse for wear than a few bruises and cuts, as well as his headache, which had all been tended and bandaged accordingly.

Waiting then for his eyes to focus, Ruka could see more of his surroundings. The ceiling at least. It was high up and highly detailed, with kaleidoscope designs that arched and swirled over the roof in geometric patterns. Staring at it only made Ruka’s head pound, so he groaned and managed to move a little more. It only brought on more pain, however, and he tried to find a better position without jarring his injury. Where was he? Had Evaden gotten rid of him after the poisoning? Ruka had a sinking feeling in his gut. Did he now belong to Abel?

Tilting his head down, Ruka looked at the room around him and found that it was even more lavish than the ceiling. He was lying in a large, circular bed that had a raised half-circle headboard snaking around it that was covered in fine cloth. There was a thin, gossamer-like curtain draped from the ceiling that fell around the outside of the bed, and probably bunched on the floor. The room itself was large too, with tall pillars that led up to the ceiling that were also hung with curtains that floated in the light breeze. Ruka couldn’t see outside, since he couldn’t tilt his head enough to see more.

Instead, his slowly-clearing eyes fell on the shape of a person. Or so he thought it was a person; they were sitting in a chair near the bed, and probably one of the biggest beast-men he had ever seen. Skin so deep in colour, it reminded Ruka of dark chocolate, and eyes like twin golden moons beneath a mop of thick dreadlocks. The man wore no shirt, much like Ruka usually did, and simple pants, but they did not hide his massive, muscular bulk at all. Nothing probably could. You could probably dress the man up in pink satin lingerie and he would still look like a mountain lion that could sit on you and crush you. Ruka’s gaze fell on the silver wrist cuffs that flashed around the man’s arms, and he tilted his head. Another slave?

The man had noticed Ruka moving, and sat forward with a friendly, if not toothy, grin. This showed off his two rows of thick, fang-like teeth. “Hey! Good to see you awake, tough guy!” He said. The man moved to help Ruka sit up, “Take it slow. There we go, you thirsty?”

Ruka nodded, “Who are you?” his voice was gravelled and rough, probably from disuse. That must mean that he had been out for a while, judging by that and his new surroundings. The man passed him a glass of water, cautiously lifting it to his lips and taking a sip. The cool water soothed his parched mouth and throat, and Ruka hadn’t realized how thirsty he was until he was looking at the bottom of the cup.

“Ah, I am Ali. I’m one of the new slaves,” the man chuckled with a shrug of his massive shoulders.

“Where am I?”

“Master Evaden’s room, as his personal heater of course. They brought you here after the arena, and I was sent up here to make sure you are well taken care of.” So, he was still Evaden’s slave. Ruka wasn’t sure if he felt relieved, or annoyed at that. Though it was better than being Abel’s slave, he was damn sure of that.

“Want know what happened after you passed out?” Ali winked at him, filling the glass of water again.

Another sip, “Sure, I feel like I was run over by a herd of horses, so there must be a good explanation for it.” His right hand came up to his temples, the water had helped clear his head, but it had brought back more of his headache. All Ruka wanted was to lie down and sleep some more, but he told himself that he needed to move; stiff muscles meant slow reflexes.

“Well, in the pits,” Ali sounded almost like a gossiping girl, “the slave you were against used a poisoned dagger.”

 _That_ _’_ _s not news, I think I knew_ that _at least._

“Your master threw a fit when he found out, tossed his weight around after that. My old master was shamed. Lost everything to master Evaden, including all five of his slaves that are here now.” Ali held up his hand and counted, “Including me, there’s: Atsi, Aadil, Nizar, and Zaki. The slave you were in the arena with was sold the day we came to this house. Seems that master Evaden didn’t like him very much,” there was a tiny hint of laughter in his tone, but Ruka said nothing of it.

He had to think that one through, however. Evaden had done _what_ exactly? Ruka couldn’t wrap his head around it, not all of it anyway. The throwing his weight around sounded like Evaden, but bringing Ruka _here?_ This lavish, palace-like room? Surely the snake hadn’t carried him?

“It sounds as if I’ve missed all the fun. I knew that dagger was poisoned as soon as I tasted the blood from a cut.” He was starting to feel better as he sipped the water, but his head still ached. Ruka was starting to feel a familiar itch in his muscles, and despite feeling sore he had that urge to move after being still for so long. He swung his legs over the bed slowly, sitting up a little straighter. “How long was I out?”

Ali laughed, “A few days. It took a while before we could even move you, but it’s a good thing they had this work horse!” The man thumped his heavy chest with a thick fist, grinning to both ears.

“I see.” Ruka stretched and rolled a shoulder, “Is there a training room, or even a courtyard, nearby?”

“Ah, master Evaden said that you might ask that. Told me to say this if you did: ‘Ruka do not even _think_ about working out after that. The poison nearly killed you. You are not to leave this room.’” Ruka grimaced while Ali went on, “He then mentions punishments that I would never speak of around any children,”

A snarl, “Of course he would say that.”

“Sadly, I must make sure you stay here. Please don’t make it hard on yourself,” he paused to scratch his head, “or me.” 

Ruka could see the eyes watching him, and had to hold back a groan. Though he also noticed the way that Ali watched him, with knowledge and a slight wariness. If Abel’s other slave had been able to predict his attacks in the arena by watching his previous fights, then Ruka had a thought that Ali had probably seen him fight as well. If that was the case, then Ali already knew what Ruka was capable of, even when injured. That was a small comfort, and gave Ruka a small advantage over the big man. A small one. 

“Well, I need to move whether he likes it or not, or else I won’t get better,” Ruka stood slowly, ignoring the shakiness in his legs, “I’m at least going to stretch. If you want to help you can, if you stand in front of me.” He could already feel the blood starting to move through him again, and it helped his head a little bit. Besides, his temper never improved when he was confined _and_ forced to stay still.

There was a huff of laughter to his left, “I’m sure that the master will have you moving when he gets back. I can show you a few good stretches, if you’d like?”

Ruka nodded and started to stretch, ignoring Ali’s first statement. He took care with his injuries, but pushed past the general discomfort, only stopping when it became physically unbearable. Yet, for all his stretching, he was stiff from disuse, and he winced as he moved through the positions.

“Here, let me help a little.” Ali had frowned and he moved to stand behind Ruka. The human tensed, eyes watching carefully when large hands grasped his shoulders. Surprised, he let out a warning growl, but didn’t move. Ali applied pressure to his stiff back, starting to massage the tightness from his muscles and taking care of his bandaged side. The touch wasn’t aggressive, so his reflexes didn’t react in turn. Besides, the pressure on the muscles was heavenly. Under Ali’s hands his muscles started to unlock, one by one, wherever he pushed down.

“Where are we? Still in the city, Al Daw?”

“Yeah. Master Evaden bought this place soon after the fight. It’s a nice manor, just near the Burj Almiah. You should see the baths.” Ali pushed on another muscle and it relaxed, Ruka couldn’t help but groan. “If that’s all you want to know, then shall I tell you tales of the forests where I once was? It’s a good distraction. I even met the spider women,”

Spiders, what a perfect conversation topic. Ruka shuddered, “I have not seen the forests, but I have seen a few spider women. Though spiders tend to… unnerve me, but I don’t mind hearing about it.” Ruka rolled his shoulder and winced when he moved the injured one, and growled when Ali made to touch it.

“Careful there, boy. Some would take that as a challenge,” Ali snickered, but he kept away from the shoulder, “As for the forests, they were great! Trees as big as the tallest tower, some even taller than the Burj Almiah. There was green as far as the eye could see, and the _women,_ ” Ruka could hear the smile in his voice. Ruka turned to face him and prepared a mock-fighting stance and hoped that Ali would understand he wanted to go through fighting stretches. The big man lifted his hands almost unthinkingly, and provided them as targets for Ruka to slowly hit as his body warmed up.

Not liking the silence, Ruka prompted, “The women?” 

Ali snorted, “They were just as lovely. Though, be careful going to bed with spider women. They may be creative in bed, but some try to eat your face in the morning.” He looked to Ruka as he pressed his fist to Ali’s hands now and then in his fighting poses, “Watch your shoulder. Why don’t we see what you can do, kitten?”

Ruka gave Ali one of his most incredibly unimpressed faces, his eyebrow twitching. Though he was going through slow motions, Ruka still had the precision of a professional. He went faster here and there, increasing his speed until Ali had to tell him to slow down. The rhythm of his punches was like his own heartbeat, and it was good to do something simple and physical. He glanced up at Ali while he punched with his good shoulder, “It sounds interesting. However, I doubt I’ll get, or want, the chance to bed one.” His head was clearing of the dust, though it still hurt. His heart beat a little stronger now, pumping blood through his body at a steady rate once again. He was feeling familiar with his body once more, and he was eager for more movement. “How did you become a slave, if you traveled so much?” Ruka went through the conversation idly to fill the stagnant air, though his mind was focused on his body.

“Ah, you want to hear _that_ story? It’s not one of the fun ones.” Ali laughed, though it was a dry one. “Where I come from, those born as beast men are usually born slaves. I grew big so they had me in arena fights for years, pit against man and beast alike. After a while I was given to one master, then another. Passed around like a two-cent whore, but,” he tilted his head thoughtfully with a shrug, the thick dreadlocks bunching to the side just a bit, “such is life. How about you kitten? Born, sold, or taken?”

“Taken. Though ‘caught’ is probably the better word for it. I used to be an assassin,” Ruka didn’t go into details, for reasons other than his bruised and battered pride. He didn’t like reliving the past. His head started to hurt again and he grimaced, “Are you really here just to babysit me? Because it seems you could be doing better things with your time than making small talk to me.” Ruka stopped his punches, pulling back and crossing his arms now that they felt loosened and stretched.

Ali raised his brow this time, “A wild one are you, then? Now I understand those growls,” the raised brow became a wink and Ruka paused at it, “I am just staying because company is always good. Though, if you want me to get lost, it’s going to cost you!” The man said in a sing-song voice that made Ruka’s head ache and his anger prickle.

He returned it with a blatantly cold look that was anything but playful, “I’m not in the mood for idle banter. My head is hurting and I don’t think I could control my temper right now, should it lash out,”

Holding his hands up in surrender, Ali chuckled, “Alright, alright! I’ll stop wasting your time. However, if you ever get an itch that you can’t scratch, just give me a whistle and I’ll come running!” The large man breezed from the room at that, calling a ‘and no hard work outs!’ over his shoulder.

Finally, alone, Ruka allowed his tense body to ease fully. He preferred being on his own to sort his thoughts out, and sort them out he had to do. Small talk had never been his strong suit, and he was relieved to be alone. He went to the water pitcher and poured himself another glass, sitting cross-legged on the bed with it as his head began to calm now that the room was quiet. He sat with the glass in his hands, staring down at them while he tried to sort out the fuzzy memories all crammed and buzzing around his skull like a swarm of bees.

He could remember walking with a servant to his cell in the pits, his balance almost fully compromised. Then he was alone. The memory of being unable to breathe came back to him and Ruka put that right after he had collapsed on the floor of his cell. There was one memory of something cold pressed to his forehead, though he couldn’t be sure if it had been a cloth or a hand. Then there had been someone talking to him, but he couldn’t make out much of what they said. The word ‘butterfly’ seemed to float around his brain, Ruka had no idea why. Most of the memories were too blurry, and that infuriated Ruka as he tried to comb through them, unable to catch them like wisps of smoke from a blown-out candle.

What the hell had happened? Suddenly he was in some lavish house that apparently Evaden owned, supposedly bought to keep Ruka nearby when he was injured when he knew damned well that Evaden didn’t care that much. He had been with the snake long enough to know _that,_ hadn’t he? Evaden saw him as nothing more than an object, and at _best_ a pet for him to do whatever he wanted with. If not an information runner, he was valuable for what he gained Evaden, and the snake did get jealous whenever someone else tried to mount Ruka, but this was too far. Had Evaden really been _that_ angry at Abel for poisoning Ruka and fixing the match? He would have to think carefully, sort things out completely if he was going to make sense of any of these memories.

This was going to take a long time.

 

* * *

 

He was lost in his thoughts, staring into the glass between his hands. He was so focused that he didn’t notice the two entering the room. His finger was tapping the glass thoughtfully, tracing the rim now and again while making tiny pinging sounds that rang out in the quiet room. He hadn’t even noticed that time had passed, and that it was now mid-evening and the sun was nearly gone. 

“I see that you are already feeling better, and still in the room. What a surprise, how obedient of you.” Ruka flinched at the voice and nearly knocked over the glass. He caught it but with his injured shoulder, making him wince. The human stood as he watched Evaden come closer, gently tugging along a young boy on a thin golden chain. The boy was probably around seventeen, and slender as a newborn fawn with dusty, red ochre skin and eyes the colour of primroses.

Ruka’s motion did nothing to sway Evaden’s cool expression, as usual, and the snake regarded the boy, “Atsi, do be a dear and fetch Ruka something to eat,” He unclipped the chain and sent the boy scurrying away back the way they had entered with a small pat on his head and a stroke to his chin, ruffling the boy’s thick, dark curls. He turned then, to Ruka, lying lavishly on the bed beside him. “Enjoying our new bed?” The thick tail curled, even weaved, about to relax in the silken pillows.

“Isn’t it yours?”

“You are my heater, you would be doing a poor job if you were not here with me when I sleep to keep me safe and warm,” Evaden said simple.

Ruka blinked, then turned his head to nod at the door to where the boy had vanished, “I see you have a new favourite.”

“Oh? Are you jealous of Atsi? He is such a sweet boy, shy like a rabbit,” Evaden spoke as if this were nothing but casual conversation, which it was, stretching out and arching his spine against the bed. “Now, come over here and give me a kiss. I have missed your wit, my assassin.” 

The frown on Ruka’s face couldn’t have been darker, and he did not move an inch. He would not indulge the snake, Evaden would just have to wait. “Since when did you get more slaves?” Ruka wanted to hear the news first hand, not from someone he hadn’t met before. 

A purr, “So willful. Is it so much to ask for a mere kiss?” Evaden wrapped an arm around Ruka’s waist and pulled him back down into the sheets, nuzzling his neck. “When Abel disgraced the name of the arena by using a poisoned dagger, I took everything from him as compensation. It was so sloppy and shameful, I truly thought he was smarter than that. The slaves here all used to belong to him, and I used the money to buy this house to keep them all in. After all,” one clawed hand stroked over Ruka’s bare abdomen, avoiding the bandages around his shoulder. “If I bring them all to my hideout, then it would no longer be a hideout. Only the loyal are permitted there,” his breath tickled the earring at Ruka’s throat, the human swallowed.

“Sounds like you’ve been busy,”

“I have been, and I do not even get a kiss for my trouble?” 

“Nope.”

There was a disappointed huff, and Evaden leaned up to kiss Ruka, though the assassin did very little to kiss back. “You are such a pain. It is a good thing you are so pretty,” a smirk was on his lips, he being a cat toying with its prey. He continued, “and strong. I do not think many others would have been able to fight with that much poison in their body. You were most impressive,”

“I thought that poison was common in pit fights?”

“Perhaps in low-level, slum market pits they are, but not the ‘Arenas’. Even the spiders and snakes in the arena have their fangs capped for fights. The state runs the arena, it is an excellent way to earn gold from the masses so when they find out that someone tried to fix a fight, the arena could lose trust and gold.” Evaden explained easily, making it easy for Ruka to understand it. “I merely said a few choice words, and they agreed to fix the problem. Abel was disgraced by the state, all lands that were his went to them, and I received half of his money and all his slaves.” Evaden’s smile was evident even in his voice, “A small price to pay for nearly killing my pain of a heater.”

Ruka sighed, “I’m not _a_ pain. I’m _in_ pain. Now ease up.” He moved his shoulder away and sat up, “I may be good at what I do, but I’m still human, Evaden.”

“Still a pain.”

Changing the subject, Ruka looked down, “Looks like you fixed Abel. I doubt you’ll hear from him again. What will you do with all the slaves, now that you have more than you can sink your teeth into?” He offered a dry smirk and raised an eyebrow.

It was returned, Evaden still stroking Ruka’s hip and toying with the hem of his pants, “Oh? I intend to keep most of them. I sold all but the five new ones we have, and used the money for new household staff. They each have their uses, and I intend to use them fully to my advantage,”

Ruka almost laughed, “How long have I been out? Seems like you’ve been busy enjoying yourself. You’re acting weird,” He didn’t move away from the touch, much like a cat that would allow you to touch it but could turn and easily claw you if it decided to.

“I am acting as me, I see no point in masks around you. So why bother?” The claw rubbed the dip between Ruka’s hip and his waist, stroking circles lazily. “That slave takes his damned time for sure, how long does it take to get a simple plate of food?” 

“Getting used to the new place, maybe? Give him a break Evaden, you’re edgy,” 

It was then that Atsi came back into the room, his arms laden with a large tray filled with a multitude of snacks. There were small crackers with thick cheeses and herbs, warm, crusty bread that smelled dense and sweet. Ruka saw a few sweetmeats on the tray, a few dusted with crystalized sugar or salt. There were small dishes of cut fruits like pineapple and coconut, glazed in a thick golden honey and left to candy. He couldn’t recognize a few of the tiny bottles on the tray, though one looked like oil; the kind one would drizzle over, or dip bread into. One of the other vials held a viscous, red liquid that looked a little too much like blood. The third bottle was clear, and smelled faintly floral. 

Atsi came closer to the bed to set down the tray with a graceful bow, and Ruka could see the light flecks on his cheeks that were almost like freckles, but they were light instead of dark. The boy didn’t speak either, instead he stood up from the tray and moved his hands in a flurry towards Evaden, making Ruka frown.

“You spoil me, Atsi,” purred the snake as he leaned over to select one of the bottles, the dark red one, to sniff at as if it were fine wine.

Ruka didn’t touch the food yet, though his stomach was remembering that he hadn’t eaten for days, allowing Evaden to eat first almost surreptitiously, like he didn’t care much about it. Evaden noticed this and smirked, “How very kind of you.” There was a hint of mockery in the tone while the snake selected a piece of bread and drizzled the red liquid over the snack. It really did look like blood. “You may not want this one, but the others are fit for humans.” With a wave of his clawed hand Evaden signaled Ruka to go ahead.

The comment had Ruka pull back, but he managed to shrug it off and swiped a bread for himself. He too took a bottle and poured some of the oil into an empty bowl, dipping the bread into it. Now that he had addressed his hunger, Ruka ate the small slice of bread in three short bites, licking the oil from his fingers before going for more. He even tried the oil in the clear bottle, finding that it was good but had a strange taste. It almost reminded him of bread and meat that had been dipped in warm whisky. The bread tingled going down his throat, and settled comfortably in his belly. It only took him a moment to realize that he was eating rapidly, and he swallowed when he spotted Evaden watching him with that stupid, annoying smirk on his face.

To divert comments, Ruka nodded to the red bottle, “That isn’t real blood, is it?” Not wanting to appear squeamish, for he certainly was not, Ruka’s face remained neutral. Though, as he admitted in his head, there was something about eating blood like one would a condiment that made his lip curl. 

There was a sparkle in Evaden’s eye that looked a little _too_ familiar to Ruka, and it instantly had him tense. The snake didn’t answer right away, typical Evaden, but looked to Atsi who was still standing nearby. “Atsi, do be a dear and fetch Ali or Aadil, whomever you see first.” There was that purr in his voice, and that _never_ boded well. Ruka watched as the snake daintily picked a few more pieces of food from the platter and left the rest to the human with a dismissive wave. “It is not human, if that is you are worrying your little pants over.” He licked his claws, almost like it was a display, “Now then, Ruka. Any more questions? We have about five minutes before I have something else to do.”

What the hell was Ruka missing? Was there something on his face? His hand came up instinctively but he stopped it halfway. Evaden was looking more and more like he did when he was about to yank Ruka down into the sheets, yet he hadn’t made a move at all. In fact, Evaden was lounging back on the pillows, his body sprawled and his neck stretched like a cat.

 _I don_ _’_ _t trust this._ Ruka’s frown was deepening. “The blood doesn’t worry me. If you thought it did then you certainly haven’t been paying attention for the past few weeks.” He rolled his eyes, reaching for the glass of water on the tray, “It’s just an odd choice of food.” There was more of that slow, warm feeling in his stomach, if felt almost like he had drunk too much wine. That he _certainly_ knew he hadn’t done.

“I am a snake, our un-evolved cousins eat prey whole, how is my eating or drinking blood any different?”

“You can’t compare yourself to an actual snake,” Ruka laughed incredulously, “your jaw isn’t big enough to swallow something whole like that. You’d give yourself indigestion and a broken jaw, then I’d have to take care of _your_ sorry ass.”

“I am sure you would be surprised at how much I can fit into my mouth, my dear assassin.” Walked into _that_ one. “Though, I think you know a lot already.”

“Oh, fuck off.”

Evaden moved the plate and bottles away, clearing the bed. It was then that a new slave, and Atsi, came into the room. Atsi left with a quick nod from Evaden, and the other slave stayed. He was one that Ruka hadn’t yet seen from Abel’s harem; he was lithe with pale skin and bright, crimson hair, and dark brown eyes that appeared redder than brown.

“You called me?” There was no hint of submission on his lips, and hardly any respect other than aloof acknowledgement towards Evaden. Someone Ruka could probably grow to like. Yet all Evaden did was grin in the same fashion he did to Ruka when he acted up. Evaden held up the clear, floral-scented bottle in one hand and the slave raised a delicately arched eyebrow. The slave then turned, walked over to stick his head out the door, and whistled loudly.

Ruka heard a sound like running feet, but it sounded more like an oncoming landslide. A moment later, Ali skidded into the room. Clearly, he hadn’t been lying about whistling if they needed him.

Ali sniffed, seeing the bottle as the other slave had, and a huge grin appeared on his face to show his thick canines. “Show time, then?” Rhetorical, for Ali already was doing something strange, kicking off his pants and pulling off his shirt.

 _What?_ Ruka was staring at the two of them, confusion beginning to bubble up around him. He sat on his knees now, looking between the three of them as he shifted back a little on the bed until his back met the raised half-edge of the headboard. “What—in the fuck is going on?”

He was ignored, obviously. Evaden sat up, “I am sure you two can help Ruka with his… soon-to-be issue. Also, I want no lip from you, Aadil. Otherwise, I will be forced to act, again.” That purr again, and Ruka’s senses and will went into defence-mode. 

Ali approached the bed and flopped next to Ruka, the assassin skidding back a little more along the curved back of the bed. “Hey there, beautiful!” He held out a hand to the other slave, Aadil who was gracefully, albeit in a I’m-taking-my-time kind of way, “Meet red-headed beautiful!” Ali laughed jovially.

His heart was beating at an alarming pace, and that warm feeling in his belly wasn’t a content one anymore. Ruka felt it twisting and churning, but the burn didn’t go away, “What?”

“Oh, it is just some fun,” Evaden passed the clear bottle to Aadil, “After all, I have missed out on watching you move for far too long. The oil, however, was not my doing. You can thank little Atsi for that later.” The laughter in the snake’s voice was almost unbearable, “I wonder if the little one even knew what it was when he put it on the tray.” As he spoke, Aadil placed one finger on the bottle to stopper it, then shook it and licked the dollop off his finger. He moved to straddle Evaden’s tail, with the snake making a soft sound of encouragement.

 _“_ _What?_ _”_ Ruka asked again, his tone a bit more defensive.

Ali was grinning at Ruka, lying on his back like a dog with his eyes half closed. “Ah, don’t know? That’s a special pet oil, something that some masters tend to use to make sex a little more enjoyable, and longer. It is also used as a training tool for some, even just the smell of it gets me all ready,” the big man groaned, and Ruka could see what he meant all too clearly. “Without sexual release, it can become rather painful. Abel used to use it on Atsi and Aadil the most.” Ali sat up, legs sprawled out behind him as he turned to Ruka and lifted a hand to stroke his jaw, pushing some hair from Ruka’s face. At the same time, Ali’s other hand was between his own legs, rubbing himself.

Complete horror wasn’t enough to hide the gobsmacked expression on Ruka’s face as he looked between the three of them and the little clear bottle, hazel eyes growing wider by the second. He had used it for his bread, thinking of it as some dipping oil for food. He had used almost _half_ of it, where Aadil had only licked up a small drop. There was a dry swallow and his throat shuddered. He tried to move away from the touch, but he couldn’t any further, body trapped by the back of the bed and physics. He had heard of oils and methods like this. Pets lost their minds to them, along with much, much more. He had seen some in inns back in the human settlements, always making sure to check his food just in case.

Until _now._  

Ali pouted a little, “Hey now, don’t you worry kitten. I don’t plan on hurting you, but if you don’t do something about it, then the oil is really going to start to hurt soon. It’s time to perform.” The large hand moved to smooth back over Ruka’s cheek, the man shifting to face Ruka a bit more. Ruka couldn’t move, he wouldn’t dare. Evaden and Aadil were to his left, and the bed was a damned circle with a half-circle headboard. They were blocking his only escape and Ruka knew that Evaden would use the earring to stop him and drag him back, he was trapped.

Ali leaned forward and caught the human’s mouth in a kiss, and Ruka was so close to rigor mortis that he could feel a chill down his spine. It was a different kiss than one from Evaden, his mind observed through the screaming of his will, Ali’s lips were thicker and plush, teeth sharp through it all. The drug in Ruka’s system was faster to act than he thought, already he could feel his body caging his will, and a damp spot on the front of his trousers. Ruka wanted to punch himself.

He couldn’t believe what was happening. He couldn’t even fight back, something wouldn’t let him fight Ali and his body refused to listen. It wasn’t like when Evaden pushed him down, where slowly his body would overcome his mind and instinct would replace rationality. This time, it was like his mind was throwing itself against invisible chains that locked into place the moment he took the first bite of food. His body was folding, reacting faster, and that frightened him.

Managing a short moment of clarity, Ruka pulled back and winced, curling in on himself as the oil took effect. “I’m not scared of you! Don’t look down on me!” He growled defiantly. There were moans beside him while Evaden and Aadil occupied themselves, Evaden playing and pleasuring Aadil. The sounds were torturous, and Ruka shot a glare at them. Even though Evaden was occupied, his eyes hadn’t left Ruka, the mismatched blue calm and almost victorious. 

It was all a game! A damned game! If Ruka’s mind weren’t blurry and chained, he would have spat and snarled at Evaden like an angry cat. All he could do was growl.

Yet, his growl had set off Ali who was growling back, though it was more of a snarl than anything lustful. “Careful there, kitten. I’ve got a few hair triggers, so watch those growls of yours,” he tilted his head and stroked Ruka’s brow, “I also never said you were scared. I am a slave too, you know. Why would I look down on you—?”

There was a snap of fingers and Ruka saw that Evaden had been the source. Before he could react, Ali laughed huskily and slowly drew an arm about Ruka’s waist, pulling him into his warm body like someone who had swooned. “Got to put on a show, or we all get in trouble.” His hands were suddenly all over, exploring Ruka’s skin and pulling away his trousers, all too fast for Ruka’s comfort, and all too slow for his drugged body. Ali was careful of the bandages, and Ruka involuntarily arched into him. Ali manipulated his body so that Ruka’s thighs straddled his hips, and the man pressed both of their exposed cocks together and stroked.

Ruka’s mouth opened, both in shock and a sound of surprise. His voice was uncontrollable, and softer than he thought. Betrayed by his own body, because of some _stupid_ drug. He wanted to fight, to squirm, to bite, to claw and kick and get as far away from this as possible. His body had other plans, and could feel the pressure between his legs growing at an alarming pace. Ruka couldn’t help the hiss and sigh that came out at the same time, and he ground his teeth. It was like he was overhead, watching as he twisted and grew warmer. Too warm, he felt too hot and it didn’t help that Ali was peppering him with kisses and guiding his hips with his free hand. The beast man was huge, in both body and—Ruka didn’t want to think about _that_ right now! Though it was hard when—stop it!

There had to be a way out of this, he had to find _something._ His mind beat at its cage, his body ignoring it while that hand around them both, the lewd pressure and heat of it, pushed him to move with Ali. Ruka could hear the sounds Ali made, the animalistic pants against his ear that warmed his already heated skin. He could hear Evaden and Aadil, both twisting together as well. It was all some horrible nightmare, and he was trapped in it. Yet, with each heavy, slow thrust from Ali Ruka’s mind was jarred back to remembering that it was very real. Ali’s hips moved in a grinding motion and a bolt shot up through Ruka’s body. Naturally, Ruka growled in response, and what he got for that was probably more trouble than a help.

It was probably instinct for the beast man, though Ruka wouldn’t know. The moment he growled, the beast man snarled back and pushed him down into the sheets, fangs latched to his throat in a squeeze as a sign of dominance. His large body draping over Ruka as hi ships snapped up a little harder, moving faster for a moment. The human felt the warm hand that had been holding his hips, it slid down and between his cheeks to push between them and in.

Breath caught in his throat, and Ruka couldn’t think for a second. That is until Ali slowed down and he managed a moment before Ali was back to kissing his body. Ruka heard a sound from beside them and glanced, only to see Evaden _still_ watching while he fingered the other slave’s body.

Defiance sparked in Ruka, and he could feel his heartbeat down in his abdomen, deep and heavy along the length of his cock. _Fine._ If he was going to perform, then he would _perform._ His anger gave him a surge of strength that came from many years fighting bigger opponents. Ruka raised his legs to catch Ali off-balance, twisting so that Ali would be forced to fall over onto his back. In the back of his head, Ruka knew that being larger would pull Ali down harder. Ruka fought his way on top, mind clouded with the drug that was, even now, demanding that he seek his pleasure. Or deal with the pain. Ruka bared his teeth, using his good arm to pin Ali down in a light choke-hold. He didn’t press, but if the larger man tried to push up then Ruka’s hand would constrict his windpipe.

 _Perform._ The word echoed in his head.

“Don’t. Move.” He said, but his voice wasn’t sounding like his own. He moved his hips against Ali, stroking them both in turn in hopes that Ali would just give in and let Ruka seek their climax like this, so that he could just get away. 

At first, it looked as if his plan was working and Ali was just going to enjoy it, to let Ruka just stroke them off. However, the man also seemed to have his own mind about things, and his own fighting experience. He gripped Ruka’s arm where it rested beneath his jaw and suddenly Ruka’s world spun. The human landed on his back again and gasped as weight settled between his legs once again, much firmer than before.

“Afraid not, kitten.”

Ruka’s legs were spread while two fingers thrust back in, his back arched in surprise and his voice caught. Ali used his weight to pin Ruka down, lying on top of the human and huffing like some animal in heat. Again, there were teeth at Ruka’s throat, tilting his head to the side and keeping him down, fully pinned against the bed. The sounds were rhythmic, his cries muffled by the body above him, but no less went to the beat of Ali’s hips. The fangs bit into his ear, then pressed kissed down to his chest. Lips met his again, and Ruka blurred further, unable to keep track of where things were anymore. Fingers worked up and inside his body, and he felt that deep press that made his body crave for more. He thrust with Ali’s hips without thinking, grinding against his last nerve. His escape thwarted, his mind and body became lost to the drug.

Far away, he heard another snap of fingers that woke the both of them from their haze. Ali slowed his rutting like an obedient dog, and Ruka had to focus his gaze to figure out what was going on.

Ali had moved back, though when was something Ruka couldn’t recall. The human could hardly catch his breath, and the pressure between his thighs felt even more blinding now that there was nothing to push against. Ruka now saw Aadil, fully aroused and flushed to his throat. Aadil had moved across the bed, untangling his long legs from Evaden and was now approaching Ruka.

This man was the one that Ruka couldn’t read. His body had shifted to that of a submissive slave, but it was anything but. Ruka was still on his back from Ali’s turn, and felt almost like he was in the presence of another predator, of someone who was like himself. That was dangerous. Aadil’s gaze was clouded, much like Ruka’s, but there was a kind of clarity to them that, despite the drug’s presence, had Ruka snapping to attention as much as he could. Somehow, this slave was more dangerous than Ali, who was more a happy mutt than a brute. Aadil’s hands came up to stroke Ruka’s hips, earning a shiver, then they moved back down to fondle between his legs. Ruka tried to sit up, but the redhead’s mouth pressed about the head and his growl turned into a soft moan. Aadil moved Ruka’s hand to rest on his shoulder, giving Ruka somewhere to brace himself.

Ruka just wanted to scream. 

Biting his lip, he tried hard to hold back from any sounds, though it didn’t work. The air was cold and hot against him at the same time, his breath was in short, labored gasps and his skin shuddered all over. His body was tensing like a strung bow, and he strove desperately to deny feeling anything. He might as well have been trying to stop the wind from blowing. It was like trying to hold on to a bar of soap in the water, losing his grip each time he tried to keep back and each time Aadil’s tongue darted out to flick the slit. The redhead started to bob his head, and Ruka tried to imagine something, _anything_ else, but instead his mind merely supplied helpful images of how Aadil’s mouth looked spread around him.

Face half-buried in the sheets, Ruka cracked one eye open and immediately wanted to shit it again. Evaden was now occupied with Ali, stroking and petting the man like one would a faithful dog. Ali laid atop Evaden’s tail, his own mouth successfully occupied. Loyal mutt indeed.

Another surge from his groin and Ruka’s head went back, a cry managing to escape the confines of his mouth. He had to get out! He had to fight back! His body in full control now, he knew that wasn’t possible. His mind was lost to thoughts that were far too lewd to acknowledge, or else he knew it would be all over, and all for nothing. Ruka felt a mouth on his own and realized in a blur that he was now sitting upright, with Aadil planted between his legs and kissing him skillfully. _Perform._

Ruka pulled Aadil closer and kissed him back, biting the bottom lip.

A happy moan from Aadil who had, until now, been rather detached from it all, reached Ruka’s ears. Aadil pressed his weeping length to Ruka’s, much as Ali had done, and rocked them both together as he deepened the kiss. Breath hissed and clouded against lips, and they were so close that Ruka could count Aadil’s long, luxurious eyelashes.

There were hands against him, and suddenly he was on top of Aadil, both having flopped back down amidst the sheets. Legs wrapped around Ruka’s hips, but he was too flushed into the kiss to truly notice.

They broke their kiss for a moment, Ruka panting while Aadil whispered sinfully against his earring, “Come now, assassin. Show me what you are made of.”

A challenge. Ruka let out a growl and thrust back, their hips fit snugly together. Then a thought flashed in his head, a desperation sparking in his gut as he realized: he had no idea what to do next.

That made his eyes widen and his body stop, giving his mind a moment to breathe. He had had sex forced on him for years, he knew what technically came next, but somehow he didn’t’ know how to do that himself. A thin veil of hysteria came over him, and there came a twinge of pain in his gut as the drug continued to act, but received no release or stimulants.

Then everything switched. Aadil no longer looked submissive, instead his expression was annoyed, almost bored. Mahogany eyes locked with Ruka’s hazel and the man smirked, “How disappointing. I thought you would have _some_ idea of how to please a lover,” the man purred and sat up, stroking Ruka’s jaw with his lips inches from the assassin’s, “I guess I will just have to show you how to fuck someone, having only ever been fucked yourself.”

Caught off-guard, Ruka stared at Aadil. The redhead was smirking, a challenging expression on that pointed face of his. Yet Ruka was caught in a bright light, like some startled animal.

“Oh, for fuck sakes.” Aadil growled and gripped Ruka’s cock, pulling him down at the same time and pressing Ruka’s hand between his legs. His own legs wrapped around Ruka again and squeezed, and before Ruka could do anything, or even say anything, he was pushed into the other. Fire blinded him, a wave went up his spine and down while he caught himself on either side of Aadil’s shoulders, his messy ponytail falling over his neck. His breath had caught, and he arched and nearly came just from the sheer overwhelming pleasure. Though, Aadil hadn’t released the base of Ruka’s length, giving him one hard squeeze to keep the human assassin bottled.

With a smirk and a soft hum, Aadil leaned up once more, “Ah, I am sure that you know what to do next. Or do you need a hand with that too?” 

Ruka hissed like a snake, feeling a furious rage building in his gut along with the lust from the drug. He growled his own challenge in return, and in a bold move he pressed his hand to the other’s throat. “You— look down on me—again,” he none-too-gently thrust his hips slow and deep, his fighting instincts taking hold for a bit, “and I’ll do more than just _fuck_ you.”

The look on Aadil’s face was satisfying enough. The eyes going wide in surprise, though somehow Ruka could see a look of spiked lust. Their bodies twined together, and joined in a messy, salacious way that had Ruka rocking himself in. He watched as Aadil’s look of shock was replaced with one of pleasure, one hand coming up to grip Ruka’s wrist. Yet, it wasn’t to pull him off, instead Aadil pushed him down, letting out a strangled moan as he did.

As if that weren’t enough, Ruka felt a familiar coolness coil around his legs and between them, and a familiar press into his own entrance. He could hear Evaden’s voice in his ear, and a spike of pleasure from the earring had Ruka’s back curving. The words were like honey, dripping from Evaden’s mouth and drenching him in heat that stuck him and Aadil together. It was too much. In his head, Ruka was screaming curses, beating against his prison while his body bent to every breath. Amid the cloud of lust, he could tell that Ali was coming closer, but somehow he didn’t care. All he could care about was somehow getting release from this hellish nightmare of pleasure, one that was slowly eating him alive.

“Mmn, good boy, Ruka,” he felt the purr more than heard it, “Just one last thing, and the three of you can rut to your heart’s content.”

The coolness of the tail left him and Ruka’s body leaned back for it. He whined, feeling horribly empty without it. Then Ali was behind him, huffing like a winded bull against his back with his swollen cock pressed against Ruka. The thick arms encircled both him, and Aadil, and Ruka felt the strong body against him like a hot spring. Just as soon as he had felt empty, Ruka was full again when Ali thrust himself fully in, pushing the other two against the bed.

Ruka stiffened in a silent scream that turned into another growl, but Ali was already moving. Once he was given the go-ahead, Ali didn’t stop. He held tight to Ruka’s hips and thrust hard, working in and out as the head and pleasure climbed. Ruka tried to catch his breath, he tried to ignore what was happening, but it was too late. Far too late. All he was now was need, and the drug in his system had complete and utter control. Ali continued his brutal pace, his working in a rhythm that had Ruka seeing stars.

Distantly he could hear both Ali and Aadil, calling out each other’s names and Ruka’s. Everything blurred, everything mixed together in that hazy, sweat-drenched bed. Ruka was pulled into Aadil’s body with each thrust, and ground his hips for more when Ali pulled back. His mind was clouded, but that anger remained. He couldn’t even tell which way he was facing, driven to the edge and pulled back, only to be driven forward again. He had never had sex like this, except maybe with Evaden but the other had never been able to break down his mind _this_ thoroughly, no one had.

Ruka couldn’t help it, but some small, tiny, microscopic part of him told him that he enjoyed it.

He hardly even knew his body anymore when Ali and Aadil both pushed down, and up, hard. Both stiffening and ramming Ruka so firmly that his body had nothing else to do but release. Trapped between the two of them, Ruka’s body went rigid and his scream was louder than either of them put together. 

Once collapsed on the bed, panting and thoroughly tousled, among many other things, Ruka heard words from Aadil and Evaden. Ali was sated, and had his arms around Ruka like a lover, his nose nuzzled into the blond’s messy hair. Ruka stayed on his stomach, body twitching now and then while his limbs felt heavy as lead. His mind was startling to clear a bit, as if coming out of some hangover.

Finally realizing the extent to which things had progressed, Ruka’s stomach fell. He started to close-off again, but his body wouldn’t move. His body was spent, and all he could do was lay there and watch Evaden pull Aadil into his lap for another go around. Everything was in slow motion now, though the prickling of anger in his gut was sparking into a flame as his mind woke up again.

Ruka shifted, and instantly regretted it. While the drug had dulled his pain, now it was coming back. His bandaged shoulder ached in response, and it was a sharp, clearly pounding pain that he promptly tried to ignore as best he could.

There was a chuckle behind him, a warm hand smoothing over his body almost soothingly. “You should rest, kitten. First times on that shit are a nightmare,” _No shit._ Ruka wanted to scream. “But the body grows used to it after the third use, about.”

Rage, pure and deadly was welling up in Ruka, but his body was out of commission and couldn’t act on it. His eyes were heavy and gritty, and his arm hurt like it had been chewed on by a dog pack and run over for good measure. There were coils around him, that much he knew after a while, and he was too tired to care. Yet, that rage was still there, and he knew that he would wake up with an incredibly sore body and a temper to match.

All he could do was dream of skinning a certain snake in revenge, and probably throw that little clear bottle at his head for good measure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone!! From both BlackSheep240 and I, we're so happy to bring you this chapter since we've been working so hard on it. 
> 
> I swear, I haven't written a crazy smut chapter in a while, and lets say that Ruka is INCREDIBLY angry right now... things will keep getting interesting from now on~ and we'll see you in the new year, on the 14th!!


	15. Silent Treatment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: coarse language, violence, morning-after.

 

His temper the next morning was nothing short of pure hellfire and fury. Ruka woke stiff, with an itchy pain in his shoulder that pulsed to the slow beat of his heart. His head was heavy and every muscle was rigid and aching. Ruka tried to shift and found that the muscles of his abdomen and his legs were duly protesting any form of movement, as well as panging with soreness even when he didn’t move. The pit of anger that had settled in his stomach the night before had sparked and ignited into a strong fire that burned in his gut. He glanced backwards and stifled a growl.

Of course, Evaden was there, his coils wrapped and draped languidly across Ruka’s body, the tip of his tail slowly stroking his thigh. The snake was relaxed and sitting up in bed, reading over a scroll. The snake must have noticed the minimal movement from Ruka and he smirked at the human, those smug, glittering eyes fanning the flame in his stomach. It was midmorning, the sun was bright and warm in the room, and there was the faint sound of Al Daw outside the windows, though Ruka couldn’t make sense of it all. He didn’t want to bother. 

He ignored Evaden, feeling that itch in his shoulder that was altogether too annoying and bothersome, just like the snake. Ruka did note that there were fresh bandages, and from the scent of them they had been soaked in herbs beforehand. Still, this ‘care’ wasn’t enough to make him forget what had happened the night before. He even saw Ali come into the room with new bandages and nearly jumped out of bed to press back to the wall. Ruka hated what the night before had turned him into. He was used to being used by Evaden by now, but that… that had been too much. Evaden hadn’t used drugs on him before, and Ruka had felt it was almost like some kind of silent pact between them. Evaden liked to break him himself, which was at least to Ruka’s relief because he had enough to worry about with the earring forcing him to feel good, without the snake using drugs to further break him down.

Besides, hadn’t Evaden said he didn’t like sharing? What had all  _that_  been then? Ruka felt betrayed, and he couldn’t figure that out. It wasn’t like he had put his trust in Evaden, no he wouldn’t ever do that. Then why did that annoying pain in his chest linger? He was angry, but it wasn’t because of the sex. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he told himself that it was because Evaden had made a point of using Ruka exclusively for himself, and now had handed him out like some common whore.

Mentally shaking himself and his thoughts loose, Ruka focused his entire being on how angry he was, at how much he just wanted to get up and kick Evaden’s tail clean off the bed so that he might tumble to the floor. To make him feel some form of pain that Ruka felt. Yet, he could only imagine it, because his body refused to move after the abuse it had taken the night before.

He didn’t move, he didn’t look at Evaden. He didn’t even speak. There was nothing he could say that wouldn’t end in a screaming match between him and the naga. So Ruka simmered, and went on simmering. His silence lasted the day, and progressed into the week. Once he was able to move again he kept well away from Evaden, and reacted minimally to anything and everything he did or said. His only response to anything was a grunt or a glance, and even _those_  were few and far between. He did as he was told, mostly, though still refused to speak at all to Evaden or the other slaves. Ruka hardly even left the room, for he was too battered to want any other form of social interaction.

The new slaves were at least pleasant, though he avoided both Ali and Aadil for now. Aadil was easy to avoid, for the man was just as aloof as Ruka was, but Ali was difficult. Ali would often seek him out, not for sexual purposes, but because he clearly just wanted to talk or joke around. This was something that the beast man found Ruka did  _not_ enjoy doing, and after a time he gave Ruka some space, though still annoyingly pestered him now and then. It seemed that almost everyone enjoyed riling up Ruka, not to Evaden’s extent but close enough.

Atsi was the most frequent visitor to Ruka’s and Evaden’s chamber. The boy was silent, and often his hands flew about like he was frantically trying to get someone’s attention. Though, Ruka’s frustration evaporated once he found out that Atsi was mute, and spoke using sign language, hence his hand motions. Ruka didn’t know what Atsi was saying, but he did manage to enjoy his company when he would bring Ruka his meals. It was at least better company than Evaden’s, though most anything would have been better than that.

It was late in the afternoon, a week and a half after Ruka’s fight in the arena, and Ruka still had said not so much as one syllable to Evaden in that time. Ruka had taken to sitting on a small, cushioned stool in the room that was by the window, and was currently looking over a book that he had found on one of the shelves in the room. He was flipping through it lazily, valuing some time alone since he knew that once evening set in then Evaden would be here, wrapping him up and dragging him into bed. The snake hadn’t made any approach on his body in the week, possibly to let the assassin rest and heal his body, perhaps there were other reasons but Ruka ignored them. Outside, the birds were chattering in a courtyard garden, and he could hear the squabble and bustle of the marketplace beyond that. Their room overlooked a small garden yard, which was walled in from the rest of the city. On the other side of the courtyard wall was a main street that led to the market, so it wasn’t as loud as some of the houses that were on the market plaza, but it was rowdy enough.

It was then that Evaden came in earlier than he thought, it wasn’t anywhere near dinnertime, and Ruka narrowed his eyes suspiciously at him. The snake merely lifted his hand to rest it on Ruka’s shoulder, Ruka didn’t move a muscle.

“Pack what you need for a week or two. I want to get out of town for a while,” said the naga, a gentle hand coming up to push some of Ruka’s hair from his face, “We are leaving the other slaves to tend the house.” That finished, Evaden slithered from the room, leaving Ruka staring after him in confusion.

Watching him leave, the pit of anger in Ruka’s stomach that had been at a steady broil, turned over and felt a little more like wariness, or worry. What was with the sudden gentle touches? Evaden would rather die than be caught dead apologizing to a slave, that much Ruka was absolutely certain of. So why was he behaving like this?

Ruka’s only conclusion to this conundrum was that Evaden was planning on disciplining him for giving the naga the silent treatment for so long.  _Wonderful, just what I need right now._  Ruka wanted to throw the book out the door after Evaden, he wanted to shout after him and snarl like an angry dog. Yet he paused. That had never gotten him anywhere before, so why should it help him now? Evaden was always going to do as he pleased, no matter whose life it ruined. Ruka wasn’t about to submit and be a cowering little obedient slave, but for now he would wait and see. Rushing into things had gotten him into this whole predicament, perhaps if he actually stepped back then things would clear up?

So, he rose and packed a small bag. Water, food from the kitchen, and the book he had been reading, along with his bone-knife and another he kept on himself at all times that was hidden in his ponytail quite expertly. There probably wouldn’t be much food in the oasis ruins, so he guessed that Evaden would have him hunt or something when they returned. Perhaps it wouldn’t be a long trip, if Evaden had his way, however, then Ruka knew it would be.

Ruka waited by the main door to the house, a large entryway that was arched and ornate, with beautiful mosaic tiles for the floor in the shape of a blooming desert flower. Evaden arrived and they headed out into the city, with Evaden gripping Ruka’s arm and tugging him along. His grip was not rough, but it felt like an iron shackle around Ruka’s wrist. He avoided Ruka’s still lightly bandaged shoulder, but he tugged Ruka along as if he were impatient to get to where they were going. That was never a good sign.

After some time, and as the crowds of bustling people and nagas thinned, Evaden spoke, “Ruka, once we get home I want you to hunt down some game for tonight,” called it. “After, I have a treat to share.”

Ruka said nothing, nodding to the orders. Though his mind was a mess, ‘treat’ probably meant ‘sex’, though he wasn’t about to ask the snake to clarify. He walked behind the snake after he released his wrist, the late-afternoon simmering in the air of the desert as they drew closer and closer to the edge of town. The sand was packed down underfoot, and Ruka was glad for the pair of sandals that he had, it made walking on the hot sand bearable, and the hood he still had from before was comfortable and light. He watched as the houses grew smaller, and the crowds thinned. They passed a small fountain, which Ruka knew as the marker that indicated they were near the edge of town. There were no walls around Al Daw, and finding the right entrance from the desert could be a challenge. It was one thing to know where the city was, but it was a huge, bustling metropolis that one could easily get lost in. Knowing exactly where to go was helpful and Ruka always remembered things better when there were specific landmarks to remember.

The fountain was trickling and burbling to itself cheerily, the small square around them was quiet and calm in the late-afternoon air. The sun was already setting, the shadows in front of them growing longer and taller so that they looked like spindly trees. There was a small group of beast-children playing in the shade, and a few naga relaxed around the fountain in the sun. It was a perfectly normal, restful evening.

So why, when they passed the fountain, did Ruka suddenly feel on-edge?

Something was wrong, he knew that for certain. Ruka paused and glanced back over his shoulder, but all he saw was the street they had come from, and the distant shadows of creeping night that were beginning to fill the alleys and low streets.

Yet it was still there. It was that feeling that he got when he was on a mission, when he was after a mark. It was almost as if he could feel, or taste, bloodlust in the air. Usually it was his own, and it didn’t bother him so much, but this time it wasn’t. There was an intense feeling of being watched, of needing to run and vanish in the shadows. Yet no matter where Ruka looked, everything was peaceful and calm, no signs of anyone following them, or anyone about to attack.

It still stayed with him.

With the city behind them, and the sun rapidly setting and turning the sky a brilliant orange, Evaden led them towards the growing dark purple sky of night. Hopefully they would get there sooner, rather than later, Ruka didn’t fancy being carried for warmth from the desert night chill. 

It was like some horrible, nagging sound in his ear that had Ruka whipping about again to look behind them. The city was gone now, they had been walking for some time, and now there was just desert, cool and empty. But it wasn’t, he could sense that. 

 _Maybe my senses are just tricking me, going haywire?_  No, that couldn’t be it, Ruka lived by his senses, and there wasn’t any way that they were giving out on him now. There had to be something! Something wasn’t right, something was very wrong, he just couldn’t figure out  _what._

“Whatever is the matter, Ruka?” He heard Evaden say from ahead, and he could hear the slight annoyance in his tone.

Ruka shook his head, too worried that if he spoke it might be too loud, that whatever was going to happen would happen that much faster if he did. Every muscle in his body was tense as a board, his body primed to run like a deer.

Suddenly he heard a sharp whistling sound, and something struck him in the back of the head, another in his healing shoulder. Ruka’s head spun and he fell to the ground with a short yelp, dazed. Moments later he saw Evaden tense, and fall to the ground but by a tiny dart in the side of his neck. It was an ambush!

“Fancy meeting  _you_  here, Evaden,” Ruka knew that voice, only too well. His eyes rolled back and he saw Abel slithering from behind the dunes, a triumphant grin on his face. The naga looked disheveled, as if he had spent days living out in the elements. Perhaps he had, given what Ali had told Ruka. The snake had lost everything when Evaden revealed he had cheated in the arena and used a poisoned dagger on Ruka, and Abel had had his slaves, his money, everything taken away.

Pretty damn good motive if you asked Ruka. If he didn’t hate the snake’s guts more than Evaden’s then he would have congratulated him on actually getting one up on the green naga.

From what Ruka could see, Evaden couldn’t move. He wasn’t dead, or else Ruka would be as well thanks to the blasted gold earring. Instead, Evaden seemed paralyzed, probably some kind of poison that slowed his muscle reaction or something. Ruka had used similar poisons when hunting his marks, made things easier if you had to take in a mark alive.

“You’re going to get what’s coming to you, Evaden. Nice and slow, while you’re stuck like this.” Abel sneered, grabbing Evaden by the hair and lifting him a little bit to meet his gaze. He sniffed and let go, letting Evaden fall to the ground with a grunt. Then he turned to Ruka, who’s head was still reeling. Why hadn’t he used the poison on him? No, Abel had hit him with a blunt object, right in the back of the head. It would take Ruka time to regain proper motion control, but not as long as Evaden.

“I don’t understand how such a common slave, a common human, like this could have caused such an outrage from you, Evaden.” Abel now did the same as he had done to Evaden, grabbing a fistful of Ruka’s hair from the crown of his head and pulling him up with a strong arm. The pain in Ruka’s head was immense, and he had another of those pesky flashbacks; he could smell beer and sweat, and feel hot breath on his cheek that reeked of meat. A shiver went through him and Ruka’s body twitched.

There was a growl from Evaden, “You and I both know that it was not the slave that ruined you, but your own games, Abel. You have been trying to get under my skin for years. You handed me the key to your end on a gold platter, you fool.” Ruka felt something from the earring, but it wasn’t pain or pleasure. This was something completely different, and it was clearing his head.

“Hmmn, maybe he truly is the fuck of the century? Shall I try him out while you watch, Evaden?”

There came a hiss, “I could care less if my slave was fucked in the ring, or if you fucked him now. I could die here and I still triumph. You are  _ruined_  Abel. All you have here is petty vengeance, no plan, no objective. Just living like one of the masses, like a rat in the street, a dead man in the gutter.” Ruka heard a dry laugh, “How does it feel? Being powerless? Losing all your precious slaves to the man who ruined your life?”

Abel dropped Ruka for a moment and went to Evaden, Ruka landed in the sand with another grunt and watched as the larger naga punched Evaden in the gut, hard. “I’m going to take back my things from you, once I kill you,” Abel’s attention returned to Ruka’s back as he lifted the human before him once more, this time by the ponytail. The snake paused, and slipped Ruka’s hidden knife from the leather band that held his hair together, cutting it and letting the sandy-blond hair fall from his hand, still gripping some of it. “Looks like this kitten has claws in, and outside the arena.” Abel ran the blade along Ruka’s jawline, the sharpened tip leaving a fine red line along his skin, then down towards his jugular.

“Maybe I should just gut your little slut here, since you both have caused enough trouble for me.” He pressed the edge of the blade into Ruka’s neck, drawing a few beads of ruby blood.

The very instant the cold metal had brushed his skin, and the sensation from the earring intensified, Ruka’s head cleared all at once in a rush. His eyes focused and he twitched. His mind went into overdrive and he assessed the situation with lightning reflexes gained only from years of experience.

Evaden couldn’t move. Evaden was the main target. Ruka would die if Evaden died. Abel was the threat. Abel must be eliminated.

Working quickly, Ruka’s leg shifted to gain purchase. He angled his head, and suddenly sank his teeth into the hand that bore the knife. Abel’s solar plexus was directly behind him and Ruka drove his elbow backwards. It was with his injured shoulder, but adrenaline and instinct pushed him on. In one swift movement, he had the knife in his teeth and was pulling away from Abel. The snake had flinched backwards, stunned by the blow to his diaphragm. Ruka’s ankle stepped and his torso rotated, everything was in slow-motion. He ducked, avoiding the other’s flailing tail, and brought his leg up in a fluid motion. His leg connected with Abel’s head, sending the snake spinning to the ground. Without a pause, and moving like a blur, Ruka smashed the dagger into Abel’s chest to stun him. Using a shoulder for leverage, he pushed off and landed behind the crouched snake and grabbed a fistful of his hair. Yanking hard, he arched Abel backwards and pulled a second knife, the bone-knife, from his waist. He slashed the throat just shallow enough to keep him alive, but enough to spill blood down Abel’s front.

The snake’s eyes bulged, and Ruka gripped the dagger still in his chest and yanked upwards through his ribs, spewing blood across the sand that turned it black in the night. The body went limp after a second, and Ruka let go and it toppled to the ground with a wet thud. Panting a little, Ruka stood over him and kicked Abel aside and spat.

After catching his breath, Ruka glanced to Evaden. He was still lying on the sand, paralyzed by the poison. Without saying anything he moved over and plucked the dart from his neck, inspecting it. A mild paralyzing poison, nothing too strong but it would keep Evaden from moving for a while. They couldn’t stay out here, not with the temperature dropping and Ruka’s adrenaline soon to fade into exhaustion. Without another thought he lifted the naga onto his back, letting the tail drag behind as he walked the rest of the way through the dunes. “Fucking asshole…” he muttered.

“Was that at me, or him?” Came the quiet query.

Ruka didn’t answer, just kept walking. Evaden’s arms were draped around his shoulders, with his head resting on the top of Ruka’s hair. His own head was still sore from all the hair pulling, but he ignored it. He heard a gentle breath from Evaden, and the muscles relaxed against his back. Good, he was getting his movement back.

The walk lasted a while, since Ruka was weighed down with snake. They stayed silent for a while, until Evaden spoke again, “You know, you could just put me behind a dune until this wears off,”

“Then I would still be dragging your butt around because you’ll be too cold to move, stupid snake.”

“Oh, how cruel you are. Your master is immobilized and you make fun of him?”

Ruka grimaced, “I’ll make fun of you for being a lay-about and a deadweight, especially right now,”

“Now I am just hurt!” Yet there was a laugh in his tone.

“Of course you are, now shut up and we can get home.”

He was annoyed that things had turned out like this; he hadn’t been expecting to save Evaden after all he had done before. Yet here he was, bantering and griping at him like nothing had changed. That tightness in his chest had lessened somewhat, but Ruka wouldn’t notice until much, much later.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Our first post of the new year and we're off to a promising start! Ruka has... a bit of a rage problem perhaps? Well, lets just say that the work here isn't done, Abel was only a little villain, the best (worst?) is yet to come.
> 
> See you all on Valentine's Day!! OOOOOUUUU~! <3 We have a special chapter in mind for you!!


	16. Something Good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: sex, mention of non-consensual sex, coarse language.

It took time for the poison to wear off, and for Evaden to finally regain movement in his limbs and tail again. Ruka had to do most of the running around and, though he really didn’t mind much, he had enough to worry about without adding a floppy, sack-of-potatoes naga to the equation. But, he did his work without too much growling, and he was happy that the other wasn’t draped on him twenty-four-seven either.

A day or so after Abel’s attempted attack, Evaden was lounging in the fresh, clear waters of the oasis lake, while Ruka was sitting on a blanket underneath one of the prickly palm trees cleaning his two knives. He worked with two cloths, one a cleaning one and the other a dry polishing cloth. So far, he had finished washing both and was working on polishing the bone-knife with great concentration. Ruka took his time with each one, making time for getting the dirt out of the hilts and to sharpen them, then to do a final polish. He handled them the way that one would a prized possession, for they were, carefully and with great attention to detail. His expression was the calmest he had ever made, and it didn’t seem like even Evaden could rattle him right now.

Evaden tilted his head, his spot in the water almost right beside Ruka. He hummed, “You rather like knives, don’t you? Want to tell me why?” The dark green hair was free of his usual gold ornaments, and his face paint was gone, for now, one of the rare times he didn’t wear it.

Ruka blinked up at the other, roused from his intense concentration. He merely shrugged, however, “I just do. They’re simple and easy to understand, unlike many things in this world,” he leaned back against the trunk of the palm tree, flipping the bone-knife casually in his hand.

“Mhmmn… you never did ask me about your treat,” clearly Evaden was rife with different subjects today.

“That? I thought you meant sex again,” Ruka didn’t want to bring this up, he wasn’t in the mood for resisting Evaden right now, he still had to finish polishing the blades.

Evaden sat up a little more, “As much as I’d like it to be, that is not what your treat is,” he wrung out his hair for a moment, only to get it wet again moments later. “Why don’t you go get it?”

“And what exactly am I going to get?” Ruka raised a skeptical eyebrow.

A chuckle, “In the bag that I brought, there is a long box. Bring it here.”

Reluctant to leave his daggers in the middle of his work, Ruka slowly unwound his crossed legs and got to his feet. He went slowly back to the ruins and found the bag Evaden had brought with them. He had hardly thought of it since usually Evaden only brought water and his own scrolls to look over when they went anywhere. Inside the bag, amongst sealed letters and parchment, was the long, thin box with a bronze latch in the center. Ruka frowned, but he brought it out to the lake. The human plunked down on the blanket, placing the box in front of him where Evaden could see it.

After a silence, Evaden raised a brow and nodded, “Well? Open it.”

This is probably some trick… some horrible sex toy that he has to drive me crazy. Ruka narrowed his eyes and surveyed the box again.

It was a few inches thick and about a foot long. It was halved lengthwise and had hinges at the back, so it obviously opened when the bronze clasp was unlatched. The box was made of dark wood, one that was polished so well that it almost looked like glass. His frown deepened, but Ruka flicked one finger, and the clasp snapped open. Tilting the lid back, Ruka’s eyes widened at what he saw inside.

Sitting on soft, velvet lining, were five beautiful knives. Multi-purpose probably, but they were small and elegant enough to make wonderful throwing knives. Each was the same shape blade-wise, a graceful thin V shape that curved inwards and cut off in gentle arches near the hilt. The hilts were made of thick, polished wood that looked almost black, and were laced through with spiraling gold filigree that glinted faintly as it wound up to the top. The hilts were each curved downwards, in the opposite direction from the blades. Each was the same, except for the one in the center, which was different due to the clear blue gemstone that was embedded in the very middle of where the tang and the pommel met, clasped in the jaws of a tiny golden serpent. The metal was a hard, folded steel that glinted in the desert sun, like liquid metal.

Ruka’s jaw nearly dropped at the sight of the knives, his mouth dry as he touched the hilt of the center one softly. It was cool to the touch and felt as supple and soft as rabbit fur under his fingertips. When he lifted it, the blade was perfectly balanced and light, and sharp as a needle.

He was almost too flabbergasted to realize that he hadn’t said anything until he heard a shift in the water beside him to remind Ruka that Evaden was watching him. His eyes glanced to Evaden, then back to the knives, confusion forming in his belly.

“They’re… beautiful,” he couldn’t seem to think of anything else to say, “Thank you, but what are they for?”

“Glad you like them, my little assassin,” Evaden rested his head in his arms on the sand, the rest of his body relaxed in the cool water. “They are for doing so well in the arena, and for helping me bring down an enemy. See, they come with a task. I am hoping you will use them to take out all those who supported Abel. The ones who sold him the poison, the ones who told him where to find us, I know each one of them, and I want them to put down.”

A tiny smile tugged at Ruka’s mouth, “Now that’s something I can do.”

Evaden smiled softly enough that Ruka would be able to notice it. Yet, Ruka’s smile had faded back into a frown, and he couldn’t help questioning the snake’s motives, “But why give them to me now? I haven’t spoken to you, and I would have expected you to be angry about it.”

“It is simple really. I had those made before we left, while you were still sick with poison. I was waiting for you to come back to me so I could give them to you, but you ended up doing one better.” The snake tilted his head, wet hair starting to dry in the sun now that he wasn’t fully in the water. “I enjoy your presence, Ruka. So, I am going to try and keep you for as long as I can. Humans live such short lives, after all.”

“Not like you’re immortal, you know.” He sighed, placing the jeweled knife back in its box, “You may want to come out before you get too cold, I’m not dragging you around a second time this week.” He wouldn’t say it, but the knives made his spirit soar. It was good to have proper tools once again. Ever since his capture he had felt naked, he hadn’t ever really had many possessions, but his knives had been everything. Not having them, it had been like being parted from a soul mate.

There came a snicker from nearby, and soon enough he felt the familiar coil of Evaden as the snake came out of the water and pushed Ruka’s legs apart. He settled there, arms wrapped around Ruka’s middle with his tail coiling out in the sun. Evaden laid his head on Ruka’s shoulder, nuzzling into the blond’s throat with a happy hiss as he sapped his body heat. The snake appeared to be content to lie there for some time yet, stroking the ponytail that laid over Ruka’s opposite shoulder, then doing the same to his stomach lazily.

“Really? We’re back to me being a pillow?” Ruka sighed, disgruntled. The sun was getting lower, and at least he would have to haul Evaden from the pond when it got too cold. “Honestly, you’re getting more and more cuddly by the day,” He rolled his eyes and tilted his head backward against the tree. Ruka shifted his weight, trying to ignore the touches. Even now, his body was sleepily reacting, but no more than with a soothing, light tingle that followed behind Evaden’s claws.

“I am always cuddly when I am cold. Besides,” Evaden tugged at Ruka’s pants, since he hadn’t bothered to wear a shirt. Ruka wasn’t even sure he owned one anymore, “you are always my pillow. My sensual, warm body pillow.” Lips touched Ruka’s throat with a purr; he had to swallow past his dry throat.

“Sure.”

He heard Evaden hum, “Why? Do you not like being my pillow?”

“It has its downsides.”

“Like what, my little assassin?” He moved up to whisper in Ruka’s ear almost sinfully.

Ruka’s breath hitched ever so slightly, but he managed to change it into a dry laugh, “I don’t really have a choice whether or not I’m your pillow, now do I?” For once, he met the snake dead in the eyes, his own hazel gaze sharp as the knives in the box. He was calm, but that calm could easily switch into a fight-mode if things went too far. It was a warning.

The human had to shift, “You’re cold, you know?” He tried to divert the conversation, maybe distract Evaden from his conquest.

“Am I? I had not noticed,” Instead, Evaden hummed happily and hid his face in the crook of Ruka’s neck once more, nuzzling into the warm hollow there. Arms tightened around Ruka’s middle, and he shuddered when the clawed hands danced lower on his abdomen. “You are so warm though, my Ruka.” With slow movements, Ruka felt things shift. Evaden was coiled about him, and he couldn’t move. The naga kissed down his chest, teasing him while his hands stroked over the other’s sides. Ruka squirmed.

He growled a warning, but it was quiet, “What are you doing?” He knew the answer, he always knew it, but it was more of a ‘you’re doing this again?’ kind of tone than a question.

“Oh? Only a week without and you forgot how I like to have you?” Evaden had his head cocked to the side, like a child asking questions, it was nearly comical. “Do you not want this?” That bothersome tail shifted and pressed to Ruka’s front in a slow roll, and Ruka winced.

But he was surprised, Evaden never asked him if he wanted this, he normally just took. Something was up, and he didn’t trust it. Confusion flit across his gaze when he looked back, up at the snake holding him captive in his coils, “What the hell do you mean? Like I have a choice, you do it anyways! Why are you bothering to ask when you’re just going to take it anyways?”

Was he challenging the snake? Ruka felt a pit of fear roll about his chest, it settled in his stomach and made him feel slightly sick. Somehow the ebb and swell of the snake’s coils about him felt like a cradle, but he knew it could turn sinister in seconds. He waited for it, knowing that it was going to happen.

Instead, the snake smirked at him. “Sex is not always taken, Ruka.” And just like that, Evaden was gone, leaving Ruka on the blanket again looking aghast with shock. Evaden was moving back towards the ruins, the sun already low in the sky, how had it gotten so late? Evaden’s tail brushed over Ruka’s thigh once, before the touch was gone completely and Ruka was left there alone. “Come to me when you desire to have sex.” Then he was gone.

Ruka’s first reaction was complete and utter shock. Then he wanted to shout at the other, to challenge him. What had that been all about? His body was partly aroused; he had prepared himself for a full onslaught, and was left on the sand without any explanation. Not like he wanted it to happen, but what?

Ruka sat there, hugging his knees to his chest for a moment or so, thinking over Evaden’s words. Hadn’t the snake always forced sex on him? Hadn’t he constantly reaffirmed that Ruka was a slave now, and had no say in what happened to him at all? Now he was suddenly giving Ruka a choice? Ruka hadn’t ever had a choice like this, what was he supposed to do?

There was a twinge from his groin, and he nearly snarled; of course, Evaden was doing this! He was tricking him he was sure, but how could he sidestep the trap? He was luring Ruka in; he was trying to make it so Ruka would want sex with him. It was all some mind game, he was sure of it, but how did it work?

He couldn’t just sit there in the dusk, trying to look for motives and convoluted spider webs. The air was growing cold, and Ruka was still wet from where Evaden had lain on him after sliding from the pool. With a sigh, Ruka got to his feet and picked up the box of daggers. Tucking it under his arm as he brushed himself off, Ruka took a step, and paused. He looked between the ruin and the pool, wondering if he really should go in.

Telling himself it would be stupid to sleep out in the desert at night, Ruka followed Evaden’s trail. He put the knives away before he approached the archway door to Evaden’s den. Instead of going in, however, he stood in the doorway and didn’t move, looking unsure.

Evaden was laid out on the pillows, arms resting over his head like he was in the middle of a languid stretch. He looked over when Ruka appeared in the doorway, and there was that smile again. A hand lifted and gently beckoned Ruka towards him, “Will you join me tonight of your own volition, my Ruka?”

Ruka’s eyes sharpened, and he looked about blatantly for a trick, or any sign of one. He saw none, but still, he hesitated. Then he heard, “You do not have to, this is not an order.”

Mind in full-out battle mode, expecting something at any second, Ruka still paused. Yet, when nothing happened, he was left feeling exposed. Against his pride’s screaming protests, Ruka took one slow step forward, then another. It was as if he was stepping out onto flat sand, and he had no idea where the quicksand patches were, waiting to suck him down. Soon enough, he stood at the edge of the bed with his hands balled into fists at his sides, looking down at Evaden on the bed.

“Why?”

Evaden cocked his head, “Are you asking me why am I asking you to bed? Or why am I asking when I can take?” When Ruka didn’t answer, Evaden snorted which made the human jolt, “Simple, really. I do not want to take you to bed and force you to want it. I like you more than a master should a slave, Ruka. If you do not want me, nor my pleasure, then simply tell me no and I will stop.”

He made it sound like it were the most simple thing in the world. As if he could convince Ruka with a few pretty words to let go and just say yes. Ruka stared into the snake’s mismatched eyes, but was so confused that it must have shown on his face. He felt stripped down, and it bother him and his pride.

“Then why keep me as a slave? You’re not making any sense. Just a week ago you would have ordered it; you would hold me down and laugh as I screamed! Now you’re saying that I can choose? Sex isn’t like that! It never has been!” His voice grew louder and louder as he spoke and his face felt hot. It sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than Evaden, and the snake could see the battle between his thoughts going on behind his eyes.

He hadn’t seen Evaden smile the way he was, not until now. Ruka was about to shout some more, when Evaden held out his hand, “I keep you as a slave because I do not want to see you go. I do not have to make sense,” the snake shrugged a shoulder. “Sex normally is like this Ruka. Two grown people agreeing to go to bed together, normally there is courting and all that, but I do not bother with that tangled mess, unless I must.” He winked, throwing Ruka off. “I will still order you around, but if you really tell me ‘no,’ then I shall stop. If you agree now and then change your mind, you can still stop at any point; you can even leave the room if you wish. But,” that offered hand reached out and stroked Ruka’s lower arm, smoothing over his hand, “I do not think you dislike my touch as much as you think, my Ruka. I like it when you give in and enjoy yourself,”

Ruka stared at him with his jaw clenched, “But… I don’t understand.” He shook his head.

The touch to his arm moved up to his hair, stroking through and unbinding it, “It is alright not to understand. We will just have to find out together.”

Ruka was tense as ever, waiting for Evaden to say ‘gotcha’ and yank him into the bed. It never happened. Slowly, he allowed himself to be led onto the bed, and found himself under Evaden. The snake moved carefully, and never once made a quick movement. Cool lips met his, and Ruka surprisingly found himself kissing back a little. Ruka’s hands gripped the bed, now that he had this power, he wasn’t sure how to use it at all. There was a happy purr above him, and one hand smoothed over Ruka’s wrist and lifted it from the bed, redirecting Ruka’s palm and pressing it to Evaden’s side.

“It is alright to touch, Ruka. I will not bite.” Evaden’s voice was barely above a whisper. That river-stone tail of his moved like liquid, falling over Ruka’s body and settling slowly between his legs. Pressing weight down onto the human, but slowly, Evaden lowered himself so that his hair fell about them, blocking them from the world. “Touch, kiss, and do what you think feels good. Try new things, and I swear I will make you feel wonderful,” there were quiet suckling noises as Evaden pressed cool kisses over his throat, much like he did by the lake. Tiny bursts of warmth grew from each kiss, and Ruka’s body shuddered.

“Let me see what you like.” The snake bit at his pulse, and then laid his weight onto Ruka, the sound that escaped the human was nothing short of rapturous.

Maybe things could be like this? Slow and good, without fear the way that Ruka had always thought it was supposed to be. He knew he couldn’t give in, not yet, but maybe just once, once he could have something good.

There was a sudden burst of heat at the base of his neck, and Ruka arched a little; slowly, like a cat. He couldn’t see Evaden, because his eyes were trained on the ceiling to keep some semblance of control over himself, but his eyes half-closed without his consent, and one-by-one his muscles started to relax. He heard a purr, and felt a clawed hand gently stroking down his back as it rested on the bed again. Ruka’s vision was blurring a little with each touch of the snake’s mouth and, oddly, he didn’t mind it. There was still a voice of warning in the back of his head, and Ruka could hear it muttering: ‘This is the one who bound you, who trapped you and keeps you like this. Are you really going to trust him?’

But that voice was far away, and slipping further still, for Evaden was kissing down his body with all the sensual care as a lover would. The silken strands of dark green hair brushed across Ruka’s belly, sending shudders through his skin. Everything was slow, careful, planned, and that made Ruka’s body ache. Even without Evaden’s tail smoothing between his legs, Ruka could already tell that he was hard, but this time he couldn’t track it by how much he was struggling. The kisses laid like butterfly wings down his stomach, light and warm as if they were new in the morning sun. The way that Evaden was moving, with his tail shifting constantly and the hiss of sheets and breath, Ruka was drawn down into an almost comfortable bubble. A bubble where each touch to his body was sending new twinges and thrills racing across his skin like raindrops. Who cared if he was starting to like this, even when Evaden had stripped him of all his defenses? What did it matter if he gave in, just once, when things felt this good? Who would hear if he let out one small moan when Evaden’s tail stroked his shaft once or twice, and made him feel good about it?

It was just when he was starting to let go that Ruka felt the world shift, and he found himself straddling the snake’s tail, looking down at Evaden. The snake was grinning up at him, his tail moving in that ever-twisting dance that had his coils shifting over the sheets in a lazy pattern of scales. Ruka stared down at him, his eyes wide and his body suddenly stiff once more. Again, he searched for a trick, for a ‘gotcha,’ anything that would betray Evaden’s double-motives that he always seemed to have. Instead, he was met only with hands resting on his hips lightly, and guiding him to move in a way that had Ruka rolling with each twist of Evaden’s tail. Much like a tide, or current in a calm pond, Ruka let the snake move him until, much to his surprise, Ruka found that he was moving himself. His back had arched over Evaden’s tail, and he had to brace himself on either side of the snake’s torso, but there was still no trick.

Ruka began to feel that tug again, bringing him back down into that bubble where he had started to lose his senses. Evaden didn’t sit idle, but he didn’t force anything either. His own tail moved with Ruka’s unsure rhythm, and the bump and scrape of his tail sent wave upon wave of shudders running up the middle of Ruka’s body. He felt exposed, his mind and his past, and his present laid bare all at once. It was like he was taking a giant leap over a crack in the rock that had only been two feet wide, and he was only now able to look back and see how much he had changed in that short amount of time.

A press to his entrance had Ruka’s mind snapping back in place, and he froze, every inch of him on high alert. Until Evaden guided him once more, this time with hands on his own, pressing the palm of Ruka’s to the side of Evaden’s belly. This brought Ruka down a little bit more, and Evaden sat up to be closer to him.

“Touch and explore,” he purred, his tail still moving with Ruka on top of it, “try something new.” His lips found their way to tease behind Ruka’s left ear, the voice deep and dark.

Without thinking, Ruka leaned into it, like a sunflower following the sun. His mouth made its own way to Evaden’s throat, and he relaxed again. Moving with pure instinct, he let his hands move the way they wanted to. Stroking over Evaden’s sides, his nails scraping skin here and there while he did. Though Ruka was slow to move, his hands lost none of their strength as they gripped at Evaden’s hips and pulled them in tighter. The air between them started to warm, and he couldn’t get close enough.

Evaden’s tail had already pushed inside of him, and he wanted it there. The coolness of the scales helped keep his body at a calm pace, and Ruka liked it that way. The snake below him let out a sound as he let Ruka’s teeth bite at his throat, and Ruka felt a wave pass over him that he hadn’t felt before. He could make Evaden react like that, make him squirm and shift while he held his throat in his teeth. Ruka could make him moan, make him thrust up hungrily, even cry out if he wanted.

With this new sense of power, Ruka let himself go a little more. His hips ground against the scales between his legs, shifting back into the tail and drawing out another sound from Evaden. He started to experiment; would Evaden cry out or purr if he bit his collar? Would he arch and tilt his head back if he ground just a little harder in one spot, or would he hiss and have to hold himself steady in order to keep his word? If he wasn’t going to trick Ruka, maybe he had to drag it out of him. Ruka searched for anything, biting and licking, sucking and nuzzling, trying to see if he could draw out an attack from the other. Yet, all he got were moans and breathy gasps, some that he didn’t even realize he was mimicking. Ruka didn’t even realize how much this turned him on until Evaden’s tail twisted when he held one nipple between his teeth. Both of them made a sound, and Ruka felt pleased that he was able to draw it out into the open.

He bit at his lower lip, feeling his heart racing in his chest and the wet between his legs slicking the scales on the other’s tail. It was too heady a feeling, being able to have this kind of power over someone as strong as Evaden. He could feel the power in the other, the strength he needed to hold back from just grabbing Ruka. By now, Ruka had given up on looking for an extra motive, and instead was giving one to Evaden. He leaned over Evaden, his body heated and his breath short, his hand squeezed Evaden’s, and he settled his weight on top of the snake fully this time. Evaden groaned, but otherwise didn’t break his concentration. It took a moment of thought, and then Ruka couldn’t help the micro-smile that tugged at the right corner of his mouth.

If he couldn’t draw out a reaction from Evaden like this, then he would have to try something else.

Without moving off Evaden’s tail, instead sliding down the length of it with his legs, Ruka settled himself so that his mouth was resting above the other’s belly. He let out a breath and kissed just above the other’s sheathe, where Evaden’s length was already peeking out of. He dragged his mouth downwards and took the tip into his mouth. Confident that, at least in this, he knew what to do, Ruka slid his lips over it. He barely touched Evaden with anything other than his lips, for now, his tongue only darting out now and then to tease the slit.

He got part of what he wanted, a sharp intake of breath and Evaden’s body gave a violent shudder. Ruka could feel eyes burning into him, and the snake’s hips tried to move up into his mouth more, but Ruka wouldn’t let him. Taking a tiny bit more into his mouth, he held Evaden down. Let him see how he liked it for once.

There was a growl, was he going to go back on his word? Ruka braced himself, but found he didn’t have to. Evaden’s breath was fast, and so was his, he could basically taste the other’s desperation at this point. Though, after a moment Evaden’s tail began to move inside of him again, as if searching for a way to get back at Ruka for teasing him this way. Ruka moaned quietly, and that only sent vibrations running through Evaden that came back up to hit him in the chest again with shivers. Ruka could hear tiny tearing sounds, and could see that Evaden was gripping the sheets tightly in his claws, fighting not to grab hold of Ruka no-doubt.

Still, he did not go back on his word. Somehow, Ruka was relieved and disappointed at the same time. He was so used to this, so used to having the snake do what he wished, that now having him writhing underneath his own slave was a heady feeling of power indeed. Ruka’s mouth went further over the shaft, dragging his teeth very lightly down it as he swallowed more and more. At a hiss and a groan, he bobbed his head accurately, slowing down just as he was pulling back each time.

When he was sure that torturing Evaden like this for much longer would have been cruel, Ruka pulled up and leaned over Evaden. His own legs were shaking, and his mouth was red and wet.

“Go ahead; I can tell you want to switch.”

There was a purr, and the coils that had struggled to leave Ruka alone suddenly started to smooth all over him. Ruka tensed, and he heard Evaden, “My thanks, my assassin.” Suddenly Ruka found himself flipped over onto his back again, and Evaden’s mouth crashing over his and stealing his breath. Ruka felt like his soul was being tugged, like some pit in his stomach was being pulled up and out for a split second, and he was left behind with nothing but the feeling of total rapture.

Then Evaden pulled back, both his mouth and his tail, and spoke to the human’s ear, “Try to pay attention now, Ruka, to how I shower you with pleasure.” Burning kisses laid on his skin, hands suddenly roaming all over Ruka’s body as if there were thousands of them, and each of them was searching for places to tease and claw out any of Ruka’s moans that he had hidden in his chest.

It was so sudden that his breath was almost knocked from him, and his body laid itself out for the snake. He had found that reaction, and was going to enjoy taking it from Evaden, even as the snake was sucking dark marks into his skin. Ruka shuddered and arched, Evaden’s hands drawing countless sounds from him and distracting him so that he didn’t realize that Evaden was pressing himself against his entrance until he said, “Ready, beautiful?”

Ruka had to hiss, even as Evaden started to thrust himself in. It wasn’t long until he was fully sheathed, and rolling himself into the human at a steady rhythm. Ruka arched just a little, legs instinctively pressing to the other’s waist. He hazily told himself it was to keep his balance, not because it felt even better to have himself angled this way. One hand gripped the bed tightly, while the other held to Evaden’s shoulder. The snake held nothing back at this point, the both already so lost in the game of power over each other that they didn’t realize they were equally enthralled, and equally lost.

His body shuddered, and Ruka’s head tilted back with a moan, “E-Eva…” He stopped himself right before he said anything else, a rush of heat racing through him as the snake’s length bore even deeper into him. All of his other senses burned, and to top it off Evaden was stroking him between their bodies. This time, it was all new, it was all different. Ruka could feel his pride screaming, but he didn’t care. He wanted that golden core to burst, that pressure to relieve itself as they both thrust and rut against one another in that small, burning space between them.

Ruka’s legs squeezed and his back arched again, his hair was tugged, and Evaden pressed down into the bed with him as they both shuddered. Ruka shook his head, his breath rapid as the beat of his heart.

“I can’t! I—”

There was a questioning groan from Evaden, but Ruka’s body was already ahead of him. With a sharp gasp and one last deep thrust, Evaden struck that bell inside of Ruka and had the human spill over himself. The snake moaning out as he did, and just as he had before, emptied himself into Ruka.

* * *

The sun had gone down hours ago, and the desert was quiet around the ruins. The room beneath the sands was, despite the cool of the desert night, warm and comfortable. Evaden was curled in a languid sprawl around Ruka’s body, leeching heat from his human.

Evaden had caught Ruka as he had collapsed under him and, after cleaning them up, had wrapped Ruka into his coils so carefully that it had almost been affectionate. Ruka had lain awake, despite his exhaustion, and slowly had allowed his mind to come back to him. The silence of the room was one of underground caves, of the weight of stone pressing down on top of you to form this snug, almost cozy kind of comfort that he hadn’t realized he had grown used to since he had come to live with Evaden. Ruka didn’t realize until now that the sound of the desert at night was soothing, as was the sound of slow breathing next to him. His pride wasn’t going to admit defeat or submission, but at least he could say that things weren’t as bad as they had been before.

Ruka glanced to the side, even as his eyes were feeling heavy. Maybe, just maybe, things could start to look up? It was a stupid thought, and though Ruka wasn’t feeling quite so much like a dog on a leash anymore, he still had to remember that he was a slave, and that there was always two sides to any coin. But, in any case, couldn’t he enjoy this, for once? Could he not accept that, despite there being a few rifts between them, Evaden was a good master? He would have to sleep a little on that, and see what the desert threw at them next, to make sure he could actually prove the snake’s words were true and sound.

But for once, he could enjoy something that was good, couldn’t he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day everyone!! (and also Singles Awareness Day <3 <3 <3) BlackSheep240 and I were so happy to bring you this chapter, especially since it has such lovely progression in it, after such a crazy chapter last month.........
> 
> We look forward to hearing what you all think about the story so far!! (I don't want to be THAT person, but comments really help us! They help us to keep the story interesting, and to know when people are confused or have questions!)
> 
> If you have any questions, please feel free to poke me or BlackSheep240 (loveless987 on tumblr~) any time!!
> 
> ALSO! We have a special surprise for you this month, and you can take a peek at it right here if you're brave: http://arianwen44.tumblr.com/post/170874848884/happy-valentines-daysingles-awareness-day-as


	17. Hunt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: foul language, objectification, cross-dressing, violence/implied violence.

“You’re letting me out, on my own?” Ruka had to hide the child-like question under a distrustful tone. 

“I am sending you on a mission.” Evaden stated plainly, giving Ruka a calm but distinctive look. “Since Abel is dead I want to discover who was working for him, I want the ones who funded him to get out of prison, those who sold him the poison, anyone who helped him, dead. They may continue to pose a threat, and that is not a threat that I appreciate.”

Ruka raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, “And you can’t do this yourself because—?”

“I am putting your assassin skills to use, I thought you would enjoy that?” Answering a question with a question, how typical.

“I have no complaints, if I get to kill some lowlifes then whatever. What I can’t get is you letting me out of your sight for more than a day. I thought that the earring wouldn’t let me go away from you.” A feeling of restlessness was starting to creep over his skin, and he nearly started to fidget with the dagger he was carrying.

There was a laugh, “You can go as far as you wish, if I allow it. How long should it take for you to kill these people?”

Ruka thought about it, crunching the numbers in his head. It was hard to work it out when he didn’t know how many he would be hunting, having that factor a mystery always either made the hunt difficult, or more exciting.

“Depends,” 

“On?”

“How many marks. I need to do some digging, especially into the toxin he used to stun you, that’s my best lead. If I start from there, I can get to them I can follow the trail back to Abel.”

A thoughtful silence, and then, “So about a month, then?”

Ruka gave him a look, “Have some faith, snake,” He sighed, “Give me a week.”

 

* * *

 

Walking back through the desert to where they had been attacked was the easy part, he found the body in no time at all. Having been left in a bloody mess for a few days, Abel’s body stunk like, well a dead body that had been roasting in the desert sun for days. The blood that had soaked into the sand was hard-baked and a horrible shade of red-brown, and the buzzards and bugs had already set to work on the rest of him. There were a few large ones, but the smaller scavengers were starting to pick up the scent. Soon some of the other beasts of the desert would pick it up as well, and Ruka wasn’t sure if he wanted to meet up with them. He would have to finish things up soon.

The eyeballs were already missing, the few tasty tidbits plucked out as delicacies by the birds. A larger bird that looked more like a burned, bald mop with scruffy, bloody feathers, was currently tugging at a cavity made in the snake’s chest by some larger animal that had come and gone. Even Ruka had to grimace, it was quite the gruesome spectacle. One of the big, ugly birds raised its head to look at him, a piece of flesh stuck to the top of its head and another stringy piece in its beak. The bird’s feathers were dusted with dried blood and other bodily fluids, and it blinked while cocking his head at Ruka. He gave it a sneer and a growl, and the bird made a sound and went back to its picking. 

Leaving the corpse alone, for it was only a pile of rotting flesh, bones, and ripped clothes now, Ruka looked through the sand. A few days and the natural winds had covered things a little, but not by much. After a time, Ruka spotted what he was looking for. It glinted faintly in the sand, but he brushed it away to uncover the tiny dart that had hit Evaden. It had probably been designed to hit the target, release the poison, and then fall off moments later. He lifted it in two fingers, taking care not to cut or prick himself on it. 

The dart wasn’t overly fancy; it was no bigger than his index finger and needle sharp, it was thin, but made of a strong metal that wouldn’t break when impacting and piercing skin and muscle. It was thicker at the base and tapered at the point, like a stretched-thin teardrop. The metal glinted a little, but Ruka could identify smooth markings carved into the thicker part of the metal. He sniffed along the needle, trying to identify the traces of poison left over. Usually there wouldn’t be much after this long, so Ruka didn’t hold much out for it. He didn’t smell anything, but that didn’t necessarily mean nothing was there. The tip was crusted with a small trace of blood, but that was all he found. He also couldn’t make the markings out like this, but perhaps they would be identifiable to a master smith. 

Ruka recalled Evaden mentioning a master smith in Al Daw, one who he had heard the snake talk about before to a shady dagger merchant. He smirked at that thought, and carefully pocketed the dart into the satchel he had slung over his light travel wrap and shoulder. He would have to visit an apothecary first, the poison and its origins being the most probable lead for now. If Ruka couldn’t find, or couldn’t get enough information, then he would search the dart’s origins next.

Heading towards Al Daw, Ruka had a hard time not feeling that phantom feeling of when Abel had been following them before attacking him. He knew now that no one was, but it was still that phantom reminiscence that had him checking over his back. Nothing. No matter, he shrugged and continued on, reaching the city limits within a good amount of time. He went through the winding back ways and streets until he came to a small building sandwiched between two larger ones. It was a two-level hovel with old grimy windows and a slightly tilted look to it, as if the building on its side was slightly too heavy and was pushing it into the other building. From the outside, Ruka could see a little through the encrusted window at the front, and knew that the whole shop’s interior was filled with strange plants, bottles organized in some strange, cluttered form of organization, and oddities of every kind. A classic apothecary.

Ruka had seen Evaden go into this store once or twice, trading items and such, so he knew the shopkeeper would at least acknowledge him. He stepped into the building, having to push the door a little harder than usual since the framing had buckled a bit. The bell tinkled and he saw the beast-man at the counter look up from where he was writing something at the counter. This man looked more jackal than person, and had a sneer that was far too pointed for a human to make, and long triangular ears that perked at Ruka’s entry. The man’s tipped nose sniffed, and he closed his book.

“What does he want now?” Obviously, he thought that Evaden had sent Ruka to fetch something which, in a way, he had.

Ruka pulled the hood of his wrap back and approached the counter, taking out the dart–carefully–from his bag and setting it down on the wood top. “I want to know what poison is on here, if you can tell me.”

The man picked the dart up between two fingers and sniffed along the edge of it, much like Ruka had done. He frowned, and sniffed again, this time a little closer to the surface of the metal. 

“Hmmn, no distinct smell,” he licked the dart and spat to the side, “very bitter taste. What were the symptoms?” Clearly he had seen the blood, and knew it had already been used.

“Paralysis and weakness while recovering, but I didn’t need an antidote or else I would have been here sooner.”

The man thought for a second, still looking at the dart, “Was the subject conscious while afflicted?”

“Yes, but unable to move.” 

He placed the dart back down and Ruka pocketed it, waiting for his answer. The beast man continued to think, rubbing his chin with one furry, clawed hand. “Probably curare poison then. A rather rare substance, since it comes from over the sea. How someone managed to get it is incredible, and managing to survive it is even more so. Though, with these snakes we can never be sure what they can survive, now can we?”

Ruka nodded, “Where would someone get a poison like this?”

“Not just any apothecary, that’s for damn sure,” he huffed and turned, selecting a book from behind him on a dusty shelf and setting it down on the table. Opening the leather binding, he flipped through pages of pressed plants, notes, and drawings until he came to one specific page and tapped it with a finger. “Like I said, curare is hard to come by since it comes from overseas, only a few traders can supply it. The prices can be astronomical, so not many can afford it either,”

 _So how did a disgraced naga, stripped of all his money, slaves, power, and sent to the arena prisons, manage to get a hold of it?_ Ruka thought, this giving him more questions than he wanted. Well, it was what made the hunt fun. Even if he was doing it backwards.

“Who would be carrying this, that you know of?”

“Tough question, really. I don’t know many who would, or could afford to buy and sell it in a store like this,” The man’s ears twitched, and then suddenly he snapped his fingers, “but I have heard of a trader, one who deals specifically to the high-class at court. He’s got a leg into the Blue Prince’s court apparently, and he might be exactly whom you’re looking for. I heard a while ago that he had acquired a shipment of specific poisons from overseas, he would be the only one in the city I know of who could have carried it and sold it to the proper class of customer.” 

With a nod, Ruka pressed on, “Where can I find him? How can I identify the poison?” 

Another pause, “Well, you could probably catch him at court, but that’s hard to get into. Most-likely you’ll catch him outside the higher levels of the city at dusk, when many of the court activities take a different course and the needs for trade are lesser. I would try the main market square in the higher level of the city, look for a blue lotus flower mark on his stall sigil. The poison itself should be clear, sometimes with a light yellow or greenish tint.”

Giving the man his thanks, Ruka left the shop and went deeper into the city, he had a trader to track.

 

* * *

 

Another plaza, this time full of nobility. Or so it appeared. To Ruka it was just another square filled with fancy-dressed snakes and beast-people. Unlike the normal markets that Evaden had frequented with him, this higher-standing one was a place of utter extravagance. The streets were kept clean by slaves that moved about and were kept by the state or the city. The stone shops were accented with gold, or what looked like it, shining with the metal and the coloured stones like mosaics in the sun, each just as eye-catching as the last. Music filled every corner, with slaves and even some masters dancing under the shade of well-kept trees and hanging cloth scaffolds. There were so many elaborate fineries as well: silks, jewelry, trinkets, everything. It was all so over-done that Ruka had to stifle his sniff of disdain, and had to strictly stop himself from rolling his eyes. Even Evaden couldn’t possibly like this; all of it was far too, extravagant. 

Farther off in the distance he could see a large wall that walled off the royal palace. Near here the people were more somber, more proper as they went about. They stayed in chaises, carriages, speaking quietly to one another as they were fanned by attentive slaves in the heat.

A few snakes eyed him up, and Ruka tugged his hood further over his shoulders and face to hide himself from the hungry gazes. He didn’t see many humans, and if he did they were slaves on the beck-and-call for their masters. Ruka didn’t see a lot of humans on their own, he couldn’t see anyone but himself alone, without a master. He felt a danger lurking under all the frills and the gaudy jewels, and the faster he got in and out of this stifling place, the better off he’d be.

He searched for the lotus symbol, looking through each of the stalls from a distance as he searched. It was near to dusk, the sun setting the upper plaza ablaze with glowing ember light. Ruka would have enjoyed this time of day, but with all the flashy, garishness of the market it was hard to appreciate. 

As the sun was setting beyond the palace walls, setting it to silhouette in its orange light, Ruka thought that he spotted the spiked blossom sigil on one of the small vendors in a corner of the market. He was selling what looked to be expensive wine, fanciful tonics, and dried flowers and herbs. Ruka’s eyes narrowed and he made towards the stall, casually, but still with purpose. The seller was a beady-eyed little man dressed in far too many layers of fine cloth for Ruka’s taste. He reminded him of a slimy, salesman, which he technically was.

Before Ruka approached, he purchased a long, expensive bolt of cloth with coined edges and wrapped it about his waist. He fluffed his hair a little and pursed his lips, hiding his chest but fluffing up his cloak a little to make it puff out a bit more at his breast. He twisted his hips more when he walked, and when he arrived at the stall, sloped his shoulders and angled his waist so that he appeared more curved than usual. The cloth about his waist bunched enough to accent his hips, and the coins jingled merrily. He made sure that his throat was hidden, but the earring on his ear flashed playfully in the low light. If he could play up being a delicate, worried slave girl, then perhaps this lecherous man would fall for it and show him his _really_ rare stock.

He made a show of perusing the stall as a few naga ladies –could you call them ladies?– were giggling as the man flirted with them, trying to get them to buy junk probably at disgustingly high prices. Ruka nearly sneered. 

“Ah yes, the wine will most definitely help gain your lover’s heart. It will make him want only you, for who could not want such a lovely lady as yourself?” The woman, who was dressed in such fine blues that she looked like a shard of the sky, giggled and turned to her companion who smiled with her. The naga noblewoman, her tail as blue as her dresses, paid her astronomical fee in gold and the two slithered off with their bottle of cheap wine, dressed up as some love-potion.

The man instantly turned to Ruka after he had made his sale, that horrible, greasy smile still on his face. “What are you looking for, my dear? Are you perhaps searching for something for your master? I have many wonderful elixirs that could… _improve_ your performance, or theirs. I also have stamina potions, fever wines, and perhaps a few things a little more _off market_ for some darker tastes,” he spoke quietly, as to not arouse suspicion, but kept a straight, ever-bearing smile on his face. He was at least buying that Ruka was a girl, good. 

Ruka smiled back charmingly, “Ah, I am not in the market for those items sir. My master has his own preferences,” he wanted to shudder but he remained calm, his voice light and airy. Cat-and-mouse was his preferred way to go about hunting his marks, and now it was time for a little word-game. “I am actually in the market for a few rare things, but I am not sure if you are the one to carry them. I wanted to surprise my master, however,” Ruka pressed his brows up and together, tilting his head as he sighed, “I have been looking all over, but nothing in this market has not yielded anything that I could say would surprise him.” Putting his hands on his hips and looking over the stall, as if searching every cranny for something, Ruka went on. “I’m not sure where else to go, since he returns home tonight and I had hoped to have the surprise waiting for him. He is quite demanding sometimes, and I fear that if I do not have at least _something_ that is as exotic as his tastes, then he will be completely disappointed in me and I cannot have that!”

The man was nodding to Ruka’s story, wringing his hands together as he did, “Oh of course! Some masters prefer things that they think are new and exclusive to them,” 

Ruka bit his lip for emphasis, kneading the lower lip with his teeth when he saw the man watching, “Right? And my master is one of them. Do you think you could help me? I’m at my wits end, and he is due home soon!” 

“That truly is a predicament!” 

 _Hmmn, tough one to crack._ Ruka would have to lay it on thicker, “It really is! Now,” he lowered his voice and leaned forward just a little and hushed his voice in a light, breathy air, “I’ve heard from a servant that you procure special elixirs? I’ve been wanting to come over to talk to you, but only now got up the courage to do it. Do you think you could help me, sir?” Ruka bit his lip and blinked once, widening his eyes in a pleading manner and meeting the man’s gaze shyly. He also flashed a large, gold coin from his purse with a light flourish of his wrist, “As a favour? I promise you I am desperate.”

“Oh of course!” The man hushed his own voice, a light flush on his cheeks and a glint in his eyes when he saw the rich coin. “Just let me pack up and I can meet you behind the inn in ten minutes! You will not be disappointed!”

 _Got him._ Ruka suppressed a smile. _Some people will do anything for money and a pretty face._ It was one of the singular moments that he was happy to have such an effeminate face and lithe figure, he could fool almost anyone with a mere bold of cloth! 

He went to wait behind the inn, keeping an eye on the merchant’s stall from a corner so that he couldn’t run off or get the guards. The man packed up his things, shooed away a few peering nobles, and slowly made his meandering way towards the alley behind the inn. Ruka positioned himself against the wall, sitting on top of one of the barrels at the back, swinging his legs in a feminine manner, making sure to angle his feet and hips just right. The alley itself was dingy, but not as infested or broken-down as some of the alleys in the lower parts of the city. There were supply barrels and crates stacked neatly against the wall of the building, and they offered plenty of cover for the meeting.

When the man rounded the corner, Ruka saw him flush and smile. He was carrying his case of merchandise, but with it came another, smaller one that Ruka had seen him pull up from beneath the stall. Ruka hopped down from the barrel and moved a little towards the man, but no closer.

“Oh! I was so worried you wouldn’t come!”

The man rested his cases on a crate nearby, “My dear, I would never leave a lady in distress! Especially a lovely lady, such as yourself.” He reached out and stroked Ruka’s cheek with one rough finger, and Ruka had to stop himself from biting it off.

Instead, he giggled and rubbed the spot where the man had touched; _gross, now I need to bathe again._ He tilted his head, “Flatterer, you truly are a saviour.”

“Perhaps you’d like to pay me back sometime, with a little more than gold?” The man’s voice lowered to a rough attempt at a husky tone, and Ruka had to swallow his bile in his throat.

“Silly, my master comes home tonight! I can’t leave with him here,” he lilted his voice. _Come on, open your case so I can see if you’re the bastard I’m looking for. I’m not wasting my time here!_

The man hummed, “Perhaps when your master is away, we can arrange something mutually beneficial?” He was coming a little too close, and Ruka had to keep himself calm.

“Maybe, but for now I really need to see what you have before he gets home, or else neither of us get to plan anything,” Ruka pouted, winding one of the man’s oily strands of hair around one finger, making the man smile and visibly stop himself from coming any further. 

“Ah, a true business woman. Very well,” he extended a hand with one gently guiding Ruka with a touch to his back. He brought them towards the crate where he had rested his cases. Ruka looked down as he opened the smaller one, showing an assortment of tiny bottles in velvet-lined indents on both the lid, and the belly of the case. Ruka’s eyes flashed a little, but the man was too focused to see it. “Now, these are my most potent and rare potions. Many I import from over the seas, which I, sadly, have to charge a little extra for, my dear.”

Ruka’s eyes scanned the little vials, almost ignoring the man as he spoke. He spotted one vial, with a few scratches of ink on the label that he couldn’t read. The liquid inside was clear, with a yellowish tint. He tapped it once with a ginger finger, then pulling back his hand as if he had been burned, “What is this one? The colour is pretty,”

“Oh that? You might want to be careful, lovely. That’s a poison, not a toy. I also carry some quite rare poisons, just for those pesky enemies that could endanger your dear master.” Ruka hated the condescending tone in the man’s voice. Is this how he saw women? It made him sick.

“What is it, though? I may get one for my master as well, he has a few enemies that he’s always complaining about,” he said it thoughtfully, as if he wasn’t actually considering that someone could kill with this.

“My dear, what a thought! You have a devious little mind, now don’t you?” he stroked Ruka’s hip and Ruka had to seriously suppress his urge to grab his dagger and slam it into the man’s gullet. 

_Breathe._

“Oh, I just wanted to know, master is always saying I am too curious for my own good! Though, a bit of an airhead at times, he says that it’s endearing,” Ruka smiled.

“That it is, my sweet. That is curare poison, a rare little thing, like you. It’s made from distilling exotic plants from over the sea into a poison,”

“Goodness! What can it do?”

The man chuckled, “What a curious mind! It can paralyze a victim, but leave them alive and sometimes conscious. It’s quite the devilish concoction, like you. I had someone buy some a little while ago actually, this is my last vial so it’s in high demand!” The man’s hand rested on Ruka’s shoulder and squeezed. That was it.

“So, you’re the one who sold it to that asshole.” Ruka’s voice lowered from breathy to normal, and his hand reached slowly for his dagger, hidden beneath his sash at his side.

“What?” The man was confused, lifting his hand from Ruka’s shoulder.

“Was I not clear enough?” Ruka’s hand closed around his dagger hilt, and within seconds he had hit the man in the solar plexus and shoved him against the stone wall of the inn, dagger to the throat. “Now, you debaucherous son of a rabid dog, you’re going to tell me who exactly you sold that poison to, or I’m going to cut you a few new air holes.” He pressed the dagger just lightly to the man’s neck, drawing a bead or two of red blood.

“Ack!” The man choked and struggled, but Ruka had a firm grip on his cloth at his chest, his fist dug deep into the fabric and holding him up. “Y-You’re not a woman!” 

“No shit, now answer me.” Ruka’s voice was dangerous, he made sure to keep quiet, and made sure that the man couldn’t call for help either. He was on the tips of his toes, Ruka shoving him hard into the stone. “Who did you sell curare to?”

The man snarled, and then spit at Ruka, fittingly missing him and dribbling over his own face. “I’m not telling you anything, whore! I don’t sell information to fuck-toys who bend over for their master’s cock!”

A true smile tugged at Ruka’s lips, “Really now, we’re throwing around names now?”

“Go back to your snake master, you lying shit!”

Ruka’s gaze went hard, and he slammed the man against the wall. “You won’t get to me like that. I want an answer.” His tone was calm, and the low light glinted off the steel dagger. The sun had vanished by now, but the glow was still visible over the walls, only the alley was bathed in blue shadow.

Stubbornly silent, the man was only offering frustration, and a challenge to Ruka. The assassin used a surprising amount of force to twist the man around so that he faced the wall, both arms behind his back and held tight by Ruka’s. He wrenched the man’s head to the side and his dagger tip hit the stone wall. This time, he held it right beneath the man’s chin, pressing hard into the skin.

“Now, either you tell me now, and I knock you out and let you live. _Or,_ I start using these delightful little poisons you have in here, starting with the curare,” Ruka murmured into the man’s ear. It obviously had an effect, for the man twitched and his breath caught. “See, I can’t read the labels that well, so it’ll be a fun little game. I won’t know what will hurt, and what will kill, but we can try each one to see which is which.”

“Wait! Those are expensive!”

Ruka blinked, and almost laughed, “Here I am, threatening your life with poison and pain, and you’re worried about _wasting inventory?”_

“But–”

“None of that bullshit,” Ruka cut a little deeper, “Either you talk now, or I start my experiment.”

The man’s eyes widened, “Okay! Okay!” he choked out, and Ruka lessened the pressure a little, though it wasn’t enough for him to call out. There was a long sheet of blood running down the man’s neck from a shallow cut, and it stained his expensive cloths.

“Talk.”

“I sold it to a courtier, someone high up,” He choked out the words, and Ruka’s grip tightened. “He spoke and dressed well, all blue. He didn’t give me a name, but I overheard a servant when he left, I think it was Amat. He didn’t say who it was for, really! I didn’t know.”

Ruka’s mouth twitched in a sneer, he at least had a name he could go off now. He didn’t lessen the knife pressure at the man’s throat, but he nodded, “Anything else?”

“No! That’s all I know! Now please, let me down!”

With a huff, Ruka released the man and moved back, mostly so he couldn’t grab hold of Ruka and turn the tables. The man collected himself and rubbed his neck sorely, wincing as he brushed over the cut. “Now I must buy all new silks, you’re barbaric!” 

Shrugging, Ruka cleaned off his knife, “Don’t care.” He stood between the exit of the alley and the man, but for now he didn’t care, he merely figured his task was finished in this area.

“You should. Because I’ll have every soldier in the court hunting you down once I’m through with you! Your master’s cock is going to be a blessing that you will yearn for, compared to what they’re going to stick into you for this!” He made to get around Ruka, but the assassin had frozen. He didn’t move, and the man frowned, “Get out of my way, filthy whore!”

Ruka smirked, his dagger flipping easily around to rest the hilt in his palm. “See, now that was stupid. I can’t have some chatty little merchant telling everyone about me, especially when he’s gone and called me petty names like that.” Ruka closed in on the man, who’s face had instantly paled. He gripped him again by the collar and raised him up so Ruka could whisper, “You said before, that I had a devious mind. You’re about to find out how _devious_ it really is, and it’s the very last lesson you’re going to learn.”

And with a clean, precise stroke, Ruka ran his knife across the man’s neck. Not enough to kill him, yet, but enough to cut off his screams so no one knew what was happening behind the inn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooah! This month's chapter is another long one, and a FUN one at that! I think Ruka just likes to spice up hunting a little too much, just wait until later xD
> 
> So, while I was writing this chapter I ended up listening to a soundtrack online called 'Arabian Nights' which has some lovely music let me tell you. The song that was part of it was actually perfect for this chapter, called 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves' which is a favourite tale of mine. If you want some extra pizzazz while reading this, then listen to it here while you're reading! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujLDDWorHow
> 
> BlackSheep240(loveless987) and I are really excited for these chapters, because believe me you'll want to stick around for the third guys... it's fun! 
> 
> See you all in next month's update!!! Cheers!


	18. The Kill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: blood, violence, foul language.

Another sunset found Ruka resting on top of a building, enjoying the last of his meal rationed for that day. He had finished up his first part of the job within two days, which left him with five more to finish everything up before Evaden started to grow suspicious. It wasn’t like Ruka was afraid of Evaden coming after him, that he merely rolled his eyes at. Instead, Ruka wanted to finish within the allotted week to keep up his reputation. Not to mention the fact that if Evaden came in now he would just mess up Ruka’s whole way of hunting. He had his methods, and if someone else came in it would bungle the entire mission. Ruka also didn’t want the earring to give him a searing headache, one that he knew Evaden could make it do over long distances due to the blood-bond. It wasn’t exactly a sound science from what he had told Ruka, but it was enough to make Ruka not want to test the boundaries of it. 

He finished the last of his meal, a few strips of dried meat from a desert lizard, a piece of bread, and a slice or two of palm fruit that Evaden kept stored in the lower chambers of the desert hideout. The snake was keeping to the desert ruins in order to avoid more attacks, especially since Ruka was away now hunting them all down. Better safe than sorry. 

To start, Ruka needed new cloth. However, he had to get around town without arousing suspicion, so he flipped his inside-out and scrapped his hood for a new one in his bag. He had known this would get bloody, and had stated so to Evaden who had provided him with a few changes of clothes. Though Ruka was good at keeping blood from his clothes, he knew that in some close-quarters things would get messy.

Now on the trail of an ‘Amat’, Ruka had come up dry. He couldn’t get into the court to search out the courtiers, he knew that. He would have to search out who they were and find them in their mansions and villas. For some reason, he felt like there were more people involved other than this ‘Amat’. 

Having run into a wall, Ruka figured he would pursue the other clue he had: the dart itself. He knew there was a well-established blacksmith he could look to in order to find out the make of the dart. Hopefully that would lead further to unearthing this ‘Amat’.

He hopped down from the low wall he had been resting on, enjoying the late sun, and went through the city to the blacksmith. Evaden had called him ‘Mino’, and Ruka was, by now, expecting the unexpected at this point. Ruka knew only a few things about him from what he had heard Evaden say: a beast man bigger than a house, bad temper, and wields a hammer. Sounded like someone that Ruka would rather not be on the bad side of, so he would have to watch himself as he questioned him.

The blacksmith was closer to the arena than the upper plaza where all the nobles and expensive merchants were, though it was still in an expensive part of the city. Ruka moved through the busy streets as a casual shopper, his hood up to protect from the sun and his senses alert. One of Ruka’s hands on his waist with his bone dagger, the other resting calmly by his coin pouch, ready to smack away any greedy little hands that might want to try their luck. He glanced up at a few of the houses lining the street, with their arched and latticed alcoves and balconies. There were palm trees spreading their fronds and hairy tops in the sunlight, and the lucky few to have caught a free space under them were resting in the shade they cast. A few work animals hauling carts were moving with the crowds, but most of them had been through in the early morning and these were leaving the market streets after a long day of work and heat. Ruka could see the market up ahead; a bustling core of this part of the city that, as usual, was loud and packed with market-goers even in the late afternoon. 

He had learned that the city was split in different tiers, and that there were quite a few little markets around each little plaza or square. This one was one of the bigger middle-tier markets where some of the lower lords and higher lords mingled together. It was a rich pool of rich and well-off, scattered through with beggars and the poor. Ruka often preferred these kinds of markets, since it was easier to blend into and to find more and more supplies for what he needed. He also didn’t have as much scrutiny here, since humans were rarely not slaves. It was easier to pass by almost unnoticed here, and it made his tense shoulders calm just a little bit.

Finding the smithy wasn’t too hard, all Ruka had to do was follow the smell of smoke and hot coals, and the continuous ringing of metal being pounded into place with precision. The hiss of the metal as it entered cold water was also a dead giveaway, as was the open-air pit of flames where a few rods of metal were stuck into the warm coals. Ruka found the smith easily enough, He was a hulking beast man that, while he was definitely not the size of a house, could have absolutely no trouble in destroying one with his monstrous size. His arms were like small saplings, as were his legs. The barrel of his chest was as large as two grown men, perhaps a third, and he had a face that could curdle milk with that grimace. He looked more bull than man, with a hairy mane across his bare back and chest, and two large horns protruding from his head. His snout-nose was turned upwards, and he was focused on the piece of metal he was currently pounding flat with his hammer against the anvil.

Ruka approached apprehensively, where he was not afraid of the man he knew to be cautious around someone so large. If he wanted to, Mino could have easily picked up Ruka and flung him like a javelin, and Ruka didn’t particularly like that thought. The assassin rested his weight on one leg casually, watching for a few moments as the smith worked, both of them neither acknowledging each other.

After a time, the smith snorted, “What do you want, human? I’m busy.”

Ruka looked from the cherry-red metal to Mino’s scowl, and took his time before he responded. This man was not like the merchant from the upper city, that man had been greasy and sneaky, whereas Mino was an honest worker; one who had a reputation to match his intense appearance. Ruka had no need to pass himself off as someone else, it was all business with this smith and that was obvious.

“I’m on an errand for my master,”

Mino snorted, “And who’s your master, kid?”

“Evaden Asmodeus.” He let the earring flash in the late sun, catching Mino’s interest.

Another snort, this one in disbelief, “I didn’t think Evaden kept slaves, you must be new.”

“That’s not what I’m here to discuss.” 

Finally, the bull-man looked at him, beady eyes sharp as broken glass, “Not one for beating around the bush, I see. Fine, what does that cold-blooded serpent want now?” Without breaking eye contact, Mino doused the hot rod of metal in the water bucket, making it hiss violently and send up a burst of steam before he placed it down in the coals once more. He took out another that had been baking, and laid the bright red metal across the anvil, setting to work in hammering it flat while sending sparks flying.

  
“It’s more like what _I_ want right now,” Ruka dug in his bag until he produced the—now clean of poison— dart. He held it between his thumb and index finger, the shiny metal glinting in the low sunlight like a tiny star. “I want to know if you can tell me who made this.”

Raising a thick eyebrow, Mino paused mid-hammer to regard the tiny dart in Ruka’s hand. He put down the hammer and let the metal rest for a moment as he waited for Ruka to give it to him. The roughened hands held the tiny dart, which looked more like a bead in this man’s fingers, and he brought it close to his face to inspect it. Squinting, Mino held the dart up to the light. Then he weighed it in his palm, bouncing it a few times and then letting it rest. After a time of inspection, he held it back for Ruka to take.

“It’s a unique little dart, that’s for sure. I’ve only seen one smith that uses a clean edge like that, only one who can work with such tiny precision like this. See the small intricate nicks along the body of the blade?” He used one root-like finger to point out the tiny marks. Ruka had to wonder how such a giant of a man could see such precise markings. “They call themselves ‘Ghost’ and run a forge called The Ghost’s Anvil. They specialize in these kinds of darts, but it’s a surprise to actually see one. Usually they’re designed to fall out and get knocked away in a commotion, very effective design.”

Ruka took back the dart and nodded with a light smirk, “Sounds like a smith I’d like to do business with. Which human settlement?”

“Out near the edge of the desert, about a day’s walk from here. There’s a small human settlement there that does trade with Al Daw to remain free,” The smith took up the hammer and the metal again, clearly done with talking to Ruka.

Ruka said his thanks and turned to leave, when he got a gruff, “Hey! Watch yourself around Ghost, they can be a real character. Evaden will lose a slave if you don’t, and I don’t want him coming to me complaining that I sent his little pet to be gutted.”

“Huh, I think I can take care of myself. Thanks for the warning.”

 

* * *

 

It indeed took Ruka a day to cross the part of the desert that led to the human settlement. The heat pounding down on him like a blacksmith’s hammer when he finally arrived at the small walled-in town. Truly, it was a populated oasis with a lake in the center and the buildings all fanning out around it as they clustered together like thirsty horses all crowding together for a taste of precious water. Ruka shifted his shoulders, feeling a little sluggish after the long, hot walk in the sands. The packed earth underfoot was cracked here and there with drought, and dust would sometimes blow up into his face and irritate his eyes despite his scarf beneath masking his nose and mouth from most of it. 

Passing beneath the low archway that served as the entrance to the town, Ruka was thrown back a little. It was a similar border town to that of the one he had been in when he had set out into the desert after his mark, the same day he had been captured by Evaden. He had to scowl at the thought; there were many border towns like this, though most of them didn’t know of the existence of the naga and the beast men. They were more like rumours or legends that people told each other to keep others from going into the desert. Now that Ruka knew they were real, everything seemed a lot more superficial, more like stupid fairy tales now than scary legends. 

Pushing past his thoughts, he set to work trying to locate this ‘Ghost’. Aptly named, many people didn’t know of them when he asked, and those who knew anything barely knew more than the name. After a bit of digging, and searching through back alleys, Ruka came across a small shop in a twisted back alley. He looked up at the sign, and spotted the title _‘The Ghost’s Anvil’_ written below an iron sign of a floating hammer and anvil.

He went through the door, and was met with a quiet shop. On his right, stretched a long counter near the door that took up the whole length of the shop, which was no more than a skinny hallway that led to another door. On the left wall hung different swords, all incredibly intricate make, some elegant, some simple. Along the counter a display of daggers, many with a similar teardrop shape to the dart, others with smooth shapes that were altogether unique. For such craftsmanship to be in a back-water town, Ruka was surprised.

Behind the counter was another hall, one that was longer and vanished into dim light beyond where the counter ended and the wall with the door began. There was a woman sitting at the end of the counter, busy polishing a set of thin knives that looked more like skewers. Ruka was fascinated with them, and could have probably spent the rest of the day browsing, but knew he had to get down to business. He would have to admire everything another time.

Approaching the woman, Ruka leaned against the counter. She looked up at him, her dark eyes quizzical. Her black hair was tied back from her face, and her scarf around her shoulders masked the rest of her upper body. She raised an eyebrow at him, “Can I help you?” 

“Yes, actually. I’m looking for ‘Ghost’,” Ruka placed the dart on the counter, it shone there like a chastised child, brought before a parent for scolding. “I have a few inquiries about who bought this dart a little while ago,”

The lady looked at him, and then to the dart, putting down the skewer and sighing, “My mistress isn’t in now. You can ask me, I sold this to the buyers. I’d recognize it anywhere,”

“How do I know you’re not lying?” He narrowed his eyes at her.

She paused, and then laughed, fanning her hand at him as if he were some kid who just told her something hilarious, “Hah! I think you’re just going to have to trust me on this. Wow, you’re so _serious!”_

Ruka couldn’t help but growl, “I don’t like wasting my time either.”

“Goodness, you’re certainly no fun,” She pouted, pushing her long hair back behind her shoulder. “Alright, I’ll prove to you that you can trust me.” She leaned across the counter, moving close to Ruka. She was close enough that she could kiss him if she wanted, so Ruka stepped backwards.

“If that’s how you convince people, you’re terrible at it.” 

Foiled, the woman pouted again, “Fine, fun-sucker. If you’re here then you were probably directed, probably by a fancy smith. Judging by your obvious attire, and the way you just reacted to me, you’re either a well-off merchant, or a naga slave.” The word ‘slave’ made his nose twitch in a restrained scowl, and she grinned. “Slave it is.”

“Get on with it.”

“Also used to getting your way, and used to hunting people down, so you were in either the bounty-hunting business or you were a little more macabre than that. I think it’s the latter.” Her smile was widening, “So. You were directed here by, Mino wasn’t it? He’s one of the only ones to actually refer to my mistress as ‘Ghost’, a lot of the other clients don’t even know that name. Unless you’ve come from Mino.”

Ruka nodded, “Impressive.”

She giggled, “I’m used to this, being in the business of… sensitive information, you pick up a few things.”

“Obviously, subtlety was not one of them,” he jabbed.

“Hmph, and you never learned manners,” She pointed out, turning up her nose at him.

“Occupational hazard, now will you tell me who bought this thing?”

She played with her hair again, “Why do you want to know?” 

This was getting frustrating, almost as infuriating as talking to Evaden. It was a good thing Ruka had experience with that, and therefore could keep his anger from boiling too much. He took a breath, “My master was attacked. I’m eliminating the lowlifes who made it happen, along with anyone who gets in my way.” 

His tone made her blink, perhaps jolting her into business-mode for she hummed thoughtfully, “Well, I do recall this one naga. He came in with two others and demanded to see my mistress’ darts. Very rude, I almost slapped him around for how rude he was acting. Though, we’re not allowed to do that to nagas, sadly. He wasn’t too happy when my mistress demanded his name for her records, and we had to weed it out of him. The other two were very reserved, very suspicious.”

“The name?” Ruka prompted quietly.

“It was Amat Almasi, I think. Some stuck-up blue naga with a hot iron rod up his ass. The bastard even tried to pay us half the given price for the dart, something about needing the rest of the money to bail someone out of prison. Shady stuff.” The woman shrugged. 

Ruka grinned, he had a lead, a full lead. A last name meant he could ask around the city, and easily find a residence. He could get the other courtiers’ names from this Amat. “And he was a lord, a courtier?”

She scoffed angrily, “Oh, without a doubt. The way he dressed, all fancy-like, and the way he acted all stuck-up to us. He called us rats, and a few other colourful things when we made him pay the full price. My mistress had to get him out of here by threatening to call the authorities and tell them of his shady dealings, he left pretty quickly after that.”

“I’m sure he did. Thank you for your help,” Ruka turned to leave, when she called him. He looked back at her, “What?”

“Have you ever been here before? You look familiar.”

He had to snort, shaking his head and tugging up his hood. The earring near his throat flashed as he did, “No, I’ve never been here. Thank you again.” With that, he left.

 

* * *

 

Finding Amat Almasi after returning to Al Daw was easy. First, Ruka spent the fourth day gathering intelligence, until he managed to find his way to the courtier’s house in the middle-upper district of the city. Waiting for the cover of night, Ruka used the roof of a nearby residence to jump across to the private garden.  

Moving as quietly as a cat, Ruka went through the garden, which was more like an overgrown courtyard with a fountain in the centre. The splash of the water muffled his footsteps across the tiled floor, and his sandals made barely a hiss as he slid behind a pillar, just as a servant carrying a platter walked by in the open hallway beyond the garden. The whole house was shadowed, aside from a few torches and lanterns lit here and there. Most-likely the household was winding down from the day, either the master of the house would be rolling in the sheets with some slave or courtesan, or he was sleeping. Ruka was hoping for the latter, for if he was occupied with a slave then Ruka would have to wait until he was done, and Ruka didn’t like staying somewhere longer than he had to on a mission like this.

Ruka moved silently, following the servant with the platter at a distance. From what he could see, the platter held a candle, a pitcher, and a bowl, with a cloth set down beside it neatly. The torchlight blinked off the shiny surfaces of the ornate bowl and pitcher, and Ruka made sure to stay out of the pools of light as best he could. The servant turned a corner down another hall that led away from the garden courtyard, and Ruka had to follow. The shadows were blue in the cool night, and the torches were orange pits of glowing fire in the blue; Ruka couldn’t take time to admire the house’s architecture, though he was finding what he could see simplistic and none too eye-catching. This was nothing compared to Evaden’s manor that was further in the city, not that Ruka was really comparing them.

The slave went up a small flight of well-lit sandstone steps and Ruka had to wait until they had turned the corner in order to go with them. He hid in an alcove across from the stairs, which were crossed by another long hallway, one that probably led back to the garden courtyard. He waited, and then when the slave vanished at the top, he glanced down each length of the corridor, before making a quick dash up the steps. Ruka kept to the sides as much as he could; keeping to the opposite side of the one the slave turned around. At the top of the flight of steps was a window and another flight that curved backwards and up to the second level that was on top of the first bottom level.

Ruka saw the glow down the hall from the slave’s candle, and decided to take a different approach. Climbing out the window and onto the roof, he removed his sandals and quickly hung them along his cloth belt around his waist. Looking down, he could see the glow of the candle on the pillars, and followed from above. After a short time, the moving glow stopped and so did Ruka. He listened, and heard a knock. There were voices below and Ruka headed to the other side of the roof, looking down and seeing the sway and lilt of curtains below him in a wide window that bordered on a small balcony. 

“Put those on the table and get out,” he heard a voice, probably Amat, “And don’t disturb me until morning.”

There was silence, then the sound of dishes being put down, silence again, and the door shutting quietly. Ruka then heard a sigh and the scrape of a chair as someone stood, the clatter of glasses and the sound of pouring, followed by another sigh. Looking down, Ruka climbed nimbly down the main pillar between the two wide windows, staying well concealed behind the pillar. His bare feet made no sound on the sandstone floor, and Ruka had to smile at his luck. When Ruka glanced into the room, he saw that the naga was alone, no slave, no other accomplices. The room consisted of a writing desk, a chaise with a few satin pillows, a good-sized, overly ornate bed curtained and fitted with many more pillows, and a table where a wine pitcher, along with the new dishes the slave had brought in, sat.

The courtier was a skinny naga man; his long, thin tail was pale gray, almost blue in colour, and spotted with fat, almost diamond-like spots at even intervals all down the back. His hair was done up in some fancy-style that screamed over-done, even to Ruka, and he wore a fancy silk nightgown, complete with a blue sash. Clearly this was a courtier whom was trying _hard_ to get into the upper rings of court, currying favour with all the higher-ups in hopes to be thrown a tidbit. To Ruka, he was merely an ass-kisser of the highest, most-perfumed and pompous, sort.

Ruka slipped the bone knife from his hip, a simple movement that afforded no sound on his part. The curtains hid him well, as did the lack of light from inside the room. In fact, there was only one candle lit and that was the bedside candle. The naga was busy with drinking, his glass almost plastered to his lips. Ruka couldn’t have asked for a more perfect setup.

With careful eyes he planned his assault, making sure he would avoid the table with the pitchers. Any sounds of crashing dishes would have any nearby servants coming to investigate, not to mention it would make the floor slippery. Ruka made sure he had his route carefully thought out, all while this naga had his back to him. Then he moved.

He was around the chaise and up against the naga’s back in seconds, the knife brought up to the snake’s throat and a quick cloth around his mouth. Ruka knew that some snakes were poisonous, like Evaden, so he had to take precautions to make sure he didn’t suffer a lethal bite. Besides, the cloth muffled the snake’s voice better than his hand could, and Ruka could press even harder this way. 

“Now, we’re going to play this nice and simple,” He murmured softly in the naga’s ear, voice low, “Play nice and I leave here without a fuss. You made the mistake of helping Abel attack my master, and now that coward lies rotting in the desert. Give me the names of the other two bastards who helped him, and maybe I’ll let you go,” he paused, “I’m going to take the cloth away. Scream, and I will cut your throat in a heartbeat.” 

The snake had gone rigid the moment Ruka had pressed the knife to his neck, his hand holding the glass shaking. He may have been a courtier after more power and status, but he was a coward at best, from what Ruka could tell.

“Wh-why should I tell you anything? You’re a filthy slave!”

“By all means, insult me,” Ruka didn’t remove the knife, but let it bite a little more into the skin on the naga’s neck, “I don’t have very much patience, and my hand just might slip and cut you short. A few _years_ short.” 

The naga flinched, eyes bulging in his skull as he glanced about frantically, “Y-you won’t get anything from me!”

“See, I think I will. I already had to deal with your sleazy little poison merchant, and he insulted me one too many times. So call me ‘filthy’ one more time, and I guarantee you that your own filthy body won’t ever be found. Not even by the _bugs.”_

A short gasp and another flinch, Ruka was having far too much fun with this. “Alright! I’ll talk! It was me; I hired the merchant to get the poison, and bought the dart!”

“I know that already. How do you think I found you?” Ruka rolled his eyes, “I want the names of the other two who were with you, and I want them _now.”_

“Y-Yusra Daher and Imad S-Sarraf!”

Ruka tilted the knife and a bead of blood trickled down the naga’s neck, “You sure you’re not lying to me? Because I will be very put-out if you are,”

The naga nodded frantically, “Yes! We all pooled our money together to pay Abel’s prison fee. He promised us that he would bring us all with him when he went to the palace of the Blue Prince, he said we’d all have places in the new court when the Prince took the throne!”

“And the hit on me and my master?” Ruka’s hand grabbed the naga’s wrist and wrenched it back, the snake made a strained hiss.

“Ah! H-he said he needed those supplies to get a rival out of his way, said that they were the reason he had been falsely accused. He told us to get those supplies and we would be rewarded,” the naga shifted, but Ruka’s hand held fast to his wrist, “We were told to get them discreetly, and bring them to Abel outside the city so no one saw. Then he vanished and we never heard from him again,”

Ruka narrowed his eyes, “Do you have any proof of this? Or are you lying to me, because I don’t like liars.” He angled the knife and the naga whimpered. 

“I have a letter! It’s on my desk, it has the blue wax seal!”

A devilish smile crossed Ruka’s face, and he slowly relaxed his hold on the naga’s wrist, “Much obliged, but I’ll have you get that letter for me.” Leading them over to the desk, with his knife still to the snake’s throat, he let the snake awkwardly shuffle through his letters until he found it, handing it to Ruka who slipped it into the folds of his waist.

“I-I’ve cooperated, so let me go!”

Ruka made a soft tsk tsk with his tongue, and he could practically hear the snake’s spine go rigid. “See, I can’t have you telling anyone I was here. I can’t have you warning the other two that I’m coming, and I can’t have you telling anyone who I’m working for.”

“You bitch! You, horrible slut!” 

“Like I said before, _insult me.”_ Ruka dragged his knife in one clean stroke across the snake’s throat, spilling blood across the wall in front of them and on a few of the papers. The snake shuddered and flailed for a moment, before Ruka laid the lifeless body on the floor, a pool of dark blood growing beneath the body and seeping into the rich silks. They were gaudy anyways.

Careful not to step in the blood, Ruka rummaged through the rest of the papers, finding a few more letters from Abel to Amat about taking out Evaden. There was even one mentioning rigging one of the arena fights to eliminate ‘a troublesome heater’, which Ruka sneered at and stuffed into his waist pouch. He snatched a few more important looking letters, the others all junk at this point, and made his way out of the room through the balcony windows. He vanished into the night, leaving the grisly scene behind him to be discovered in the morning.

 

* * *

 

 

Two days had Ruka dealing easily with the other two courtiers, both of them just as stuck-up and status-hungry as Amat had been. Though, Ruka found that Yusra, the female courtier, had been a little harder to catch alone. She had often been with a group of other naga ladies, or even males. Ruka had finally gotten her though, when she had retreated from a lavish party to fix one of her earrings. He had been lucky, and had to escape faster than usual before someone found him.

Having finished his mission a whole day early, Ruka decided to take the seventh to relax and reward himself, before going back to Evaden. He had all of the letters and evidence from each mark as proof of their demise, stowed in his bag for safekeeping. He had bought a new cloak for himself, a dusty-rose silk that kept him cool in the sun since the first one had been bloodied by the merchant; and then the other side had been soiled when Imad had tried fighting him, only to fail. Ruka had also treated himself to a well-deserved delicacy, chocolate.

Sitting by a fountain that gurgled and laughed to itself, enjoying the chunk of sweetness he had bought, Ruka felt relaxed for once. He was successful, had all the proof of it to show Evaden, and hadn’t been seen at all. No one knew of his mission or his deeds, and that sparked a bit of pride in him that made him sigh and absentmindedly dip his foot into the fountain pool without much of a thought.

Maybe this life wasn’t so bad after all? He didn’t have to worry about finding somewhere to stay, or worry when his next meal would be. He had the company of the other slaves, though that could be a debatable pro or con, depending on which one you were talking about. Ali was fine, if he didn’t try to hug Ruka too much. Atsi was still a mystery to Ruka, but was alright. Aadil he had to think about, but had no problems really with him. The other two he hadn’t met yet, but at least he hadn’t yet had bad experiences with them.

Then there was Evaden. Ruka wouldn’t spare his thoughts much to think on him right now, but he didn’t feel as adamant or as hateful towards the snake as he had before. Perhaps it was because of the incident in the arena, where he had defended Ruka against poisoning? If anything, Evaden had merely dictated, and had gotten others to take care of Ruka instead of doing it himself. 

Then Ruka thought about when he had tried to run from Evaden. He had been so ill he couldn’t move, and Evaden had brought him back and nursed him, hadn’t he? Well, he would allow the snake _that_ point towards him, but other than that he was still a cold-blooded, sex-driven, power-hungry reptile.

Ruka scoffed at his own thoughts, popping the last piece of chocolate into his mouth and standing up. Perhaps he would get Evaden a piece on the way back home, though Ruka couldn’t guarantee that it would make it back to Evaden. That thought made him smile.

He was smiling when something was pressed to his face from behind, and his vision blurred and went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooah I nearly forgot about this update, since we had it ready about three weeks ago. Here you go! Ending on a bit of a cliffhanger though, just to keep you all suspended! 
> 
> See you next update!


	19. Glass Wounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Additional Warnings: blood, self-harm.

Ruka had been gone so long, that Evaden had taken to pacing in the main entryway of his new Al-Daw villa, Al Barari. He had, in fact, been restless for the past three days. Three days. Ruka was three days over the two-week mark, and there still was no sign of him. Evaden peered out of the main archway to see if he could spot the human in the few people and nagas that were passing by on the roads, but he saw nothing.

Making a frustrated sound, Evaden ground his teeth and headed back through the main entryway and then down one hallway to the kitchens. Things were calm for the middle of the day, the skeleton staff of servants that he kept for simple housekeeping jobs were still working. Making food for later, the ovens working, pots boiling and a few servants chopping vegetables and meats with herbs mixed in.

Evaden would move about there for a while, sharp eyes watching the staff while they worked and making quite a few of the servants nervous. Until he went to the main garden to try and relax. It wasn’t very long until Atsi came trotting into the room, frantically waving his hands in signals and wide arches.

“Has Ruka returned?” Atsi nodded, and that was it, Evaden was off down the halls.

That was when he heard the sounds. Smashing glass, wood clattering against the walls, and repeated sounds of what might have been punching. Evaden had provided a room for Ruka to train in when they stayed at the Al-Daw villa, so it was evident when he turned one corner that the sounds were coming from the door to the training room. With a frown the snake approached and attempted the door, only to find it stuck. He made a sound, jarring the handle and pushing against the wood of the door to make it move, but it creaked and groaned instead.

Once Evaden finally managed to get it open slightly with a well-placed shove and most of his weight against the door, a knife suddenly thudded into the wood of the door just above his head, getting a flinch from the snake. Opening his mouth to snap a disgruntled comment to the careless human, Evaden’s words were put on hold, and then to a full stop.

The whole room, in the little time Ruka had been here, was a complete mess. Two of the practice dummies were knocked to the floor, arms ripped off with straw and stuffing strewed about like some wild animal had gotten to them. Anything glass or ceramic had been smashed from its place with a well-placed knife thrown at it, and shards littered the floor. Knives lay in their shattered little beds, and even one of the chairs in the room had been upended and thrown across to lay half-broken and limp in the opposite corner. Ruka was off-center of the room, punching the head of one of the dummies, though his arms and hands were crossed with blood trails. Ruka was on his knees, in a bed of glass. Little droplets of blood flew as he punched over and over again, flecking the floor in bright red splatters. The light, metallic scent of blood hit Evaden’s nose, and the snake had to pause where he was.

Almost as if he sensed that raising his voice could unleash Ruka again, Evaden quietly approached. Careful not to slide through much of the broken glass, a few shards wouldn’t hurt but a big one could, he made his way around so that he was in front of Ruka. The human didn’t speak as he came closer, in fact, he hardly even seemed to know he was there. As Evaden saw more and more of his face, things became clear.

Ruka’s eyes almost flickered but were held wide and weren’t even looking at anything, as if he were in some kind of trance. There was a dark red welt on one temple, but the blood was dried and possibly a few days old. Bruises littered his body, and through the blood layering Ruka’s hands and wrists, which were bedded with glass, there were dark bruises on each wrist. All were signs of imprisonment.

The human had stopped punching, gripping the head of the dummy in one hand while his thumb dug into the eye socket. Something had him rattled.

“Ruka?”

The human flinched but said nothing. His thumb dug deeper and twisted, almost as if he were imagining gouging the eyeball from the crevice and squishing it about the way a child played with a grape.

Annoyed with being ignored, Evaden moved forward slowly. Taking Ruka into his arms and pulling him from the floor in order to stop the self-harming stupidity. Struggling against Evaden, Ruka snarled and pushed back, but somehow his shock had made him shaky. He was tense, no doubt about that, tense as a board, yet Ruka let Evaden pick him up. With his legs somewhat over Evaden’s arm, and though he was still pushing away from him and leaving bloody handprints on the naga’s shoulders, Ruka allowed himself to be lifted and carried from the room.

Atsi had trailed along behind him when Evaden had stormed off but had dutifully waited outside of the room. When Evaden came out, after using his tail to shove aside the weapons chest that had been pushed in front of the door, the smaller slave’s eyes went wide.

“Fetch Aadil and bring him to my chambers, immediately.” Atsi did not question, he just whisked away.

Upstairs, Evaden set Ruka down on the chair by the window. Blood would stain the sheets of the bed, and the chair could easily be replaced.

As he waited, he paced. Ruka didn’t move, he was still as blank as ever. This was probably the longest time the two of them had gone without speaking to one another when in the same room, at least when they weren’t asleep that is. The bruises around his wrists were puzzling, but what had Evaden scratching his head was the numerous marks and discolorations all over his body; now that he had looked closer, a few were in the shapes of fingers.

As if they knew time was not to be wasted, Aadil and Atsi appeared at the doorway then. The smaller slave panting quietly as he caught his breath, whereas the other merely looked annoyed. However, when he saw Ruka, he approached carefully.

“You told me that you had knowledge of healing?” Evaden’s sharp gaze fell on the slave.

A nod, “I have it, and some magic.”

“Then use it. Now.” No other explanation required Aadil was given the floor.

“You are lucky you have one of the few humans who can use magic for healing.” Aadil motioned Atsi forward, the slave carried a small pitcher of water and cloths draped over his arm. Taking a cloth and drenching it in water, Aadil wrung it out and set to work, cleaning the blood and removing the largest shards of glass before finding and removing the smaller ones. All the while, a slow, green tendril of magic followed behind him, cleansing the wounds.

Ruka had flinched but still said nothing. It was almost like he was broken, though his iron will would have been a hard thing to shake. Evaden sat, almost impatiently, on the edge of the window, waiting and watching Aadil.

“I can clean them, but I cannot close them. That he will have to do on his own.” Aadil worked methodically. Ruka’s arms supinated and extended out in front of him, he merely pursed his lips and didn’t speak. Almost having shrunk into himself, the assassin was acting more like a wounded animal than a person, as if he would snap and bare his teeth at a moment’s notice. The internal battle in his mind was evident, now visible for even Aadil to see without the use of drugs. The expression resembled hopelessness, mixed with hellish fury all piled into one emotion on his face.

As Aadil finished cleaning and began to bandage, Evaden said one low word, “Who?” But Ruka didn’t answer. Instead, he blinked, and Evaden made a sound and frowned when he was not spoken to.

Once finished, Aadil left the room with Atsi in tow and Evaden was able to attempt to break this silence. Left alone, Evaden lifted Ruka again and laid them both on the bed. Whether he wanted to or not, Ruka would be brought out of his shock, Evaden just had to wait.

Arms wrapped around the human, sapping his body heat as the sun went down, Evaden dozed quietly as he waited. Ruka didn’t move at all, frame still rigid, though he didn’t shake anymore. The coils around him startled a jolt, eyes darting back and forth when he seemed to realize that it was Evaden at his back.

“…what are you doing?”

At last, words. Evaden blinked coyly from his doze and sat up, his coils shifting about the bed, but never straying far from touching at least a part of Ruka. “I was waiting for you to be ready to tell me what had happened,”

Ruka inclined his head, moving almost like a stiff hinge as the snake shifted and tugged him closer. His muscles were starting to unlock, though that only meant they were slightly less tense around Evaden. He furrowed his brow, “Why do you care? I’m fine.” He shifted stiffly, and Evaden was able to spot the knife that Ruka usually kept in the tie in his hair, it slipped free and fell between them on the bed.

A small laugh and Evaden tossed the knife out of the bed, not fancying getting pricked. “Yes, so fine, in fact, that you were late coming home, threw a dagger at my head, and bashed your hands to pieces over a dummy,” the snake’s sarcasm was evident enough, and it at least got an annoyed snort from Ruka. Though it was anything but amused. “Tell me when you are willing to talk,”

A pause, as if Ruka were still working out what Evaden had said, and what his motives could be. Sorting through them with a fine-toothed comb, but evidently finding nothing. He had to swallow dryly in defeat, for now. “You asked who,” there was an encouraging hum. Ruka seemed to be having a hard time pushing the words out of his mouth; he shifted a little and tried to clench his hands, but only realized that he couldn’t since they were bound and stung rather badly.

“Who?” prompted Evaden.

As if he couldn’t stomach the very syllables sitting on his tongue, not even for a single moment, let alone vocalize them, Ruka snarled, “My father.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, please don't attack us for the cliffhanger :)
> 
> Things are really goin' crazy? I mean, I think poor Ru is a little blindsided with this news... and what happened to him in that whole extra ten extra days? I sense a story there. 
> 
> I still can't believe we're on chapter nineteen already, both BlackSheep and I can't believe it!! The next chapter is going to be something extra special, in celebration of our twenty-chapter/two-year anniversary! 
> 
> We'll be adding something special to the Desert Butterfly Redbubble, which you can find a link to right here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/arianwen44/collections/820780-desert-butterfly?asc=u
> 
> We'll see you all in the next update!! 8D BlackSheep240 and I will have some more meaty-story for you then!!

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this is my first crack at an original fic that originated from roleplays with my friend BlackSheep240. The character of Evaden is hers, Ruka (the main character in this case) is my own original character.


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